Tennessee heads to Illinois for a marquee Saturday matchup; can the Fighting Illini find a way to topple the #1 team or do the Volunteers build their resume with another notable road win?
TV schedule: Saturday, December 14, 5:30 pm ET. FOX
Arena: State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois
You won’t find many complaints about how Tennessee (9-0) has started this season, as the Volunteers sit unblemished after five weeks of play. The schedule has been solid, with wins away from home against Baylor, Louisville, Miami, and Virginia, though this Saturday might pose the biggest challenge to date for the Volunteers.
A veteran lineup includes some very important offseason additions, highlighted by Chaz Lanier (19.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg), the North Florida transfer who has taken up the reins as Tennessee’s top scoring threat. Fellow transfer Igor Milicic (12.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg) has shown little issue adjusting to life with the Volunteers and is the best rebounder on the team. A few big pieces did return from last year’s Elite Eight run, namely point guard Zakai Zeigler (12.1 ppg, 8.0 apg) who has been a sensational part of the Volunteers’ success in recent years on both sides of the ball.
Tennessee has worked their way up to the top spot in the national rankings while sitting #2 right now in both KenPom and the NET rankings. They boast one of the best defenses in the nation and that’s just the program that Rick Barnes has built over the last decade. While the offense has really shown up at times this season, great defense helped earn those double-digit wins over Baylor, Louisville, and others.
On the other side, Illinois (7-2) has been far from perfect but a largely new-look lineup is getting the job done after last season’s run to the Elite Eight. Brad Underwood has done wonders for this program and his work both on and off the court have the Fighting Illini in better shape than ever. This particular season has seen a few tough losses, including at Northwestern last week, but a young lineup is thriving early on.
Unquestionably the name to watch for every Illinois game will be Kasparas Jakucionis (15.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 6.0 apg), the freshman guard from Lithuania and likely lottery pick who impacts the game in a myriad of ways. 7-foot freshman center Tomislav Ivisic (15.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg) not only does great things in the paint but can hit outside shots. Among the other talent on the roster, another future draft pick is Will Riley (13.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg), the freshman forward from Canada who’s starting to come into his own.
While the Fighting Illini are currently unranked, they were ranked last week before that loss against the Wildcats and could find themselves back in that ranking very soon. They’re 15th in KenPom, 11th in NET, and already beat a ranked Wisconsin team this week. They lean heavily on the 3-pointer, but the defense has been pretty good and this team looks like it can be a real contender in the Big Ten, especially as the lineup matures in the coming weeks.
A major opportunity arises for the Illini with the #1 team in the nation coming to their court. They had their struggles against Alabama a few weeks ago and face an even stiffer challenge against this elite defense. The youth on the Illini have really shined, especially in these high-profile recent wins, but this team cannot afford to become one-dimensional.
If Lanier has another stellar performance, Tennessee wins this game with their defense and gets the job done. Illinois has significant size and talent and can take this game on their home court, but they’ll need to play 40 strong minutes on both ends. It’s a major opportunity to stop an unbeaten, top-ranked team, though we’re giving the edge to the Volunteers, anticipating that the defense will shut down Illinois’ ability to control the game.
Prediction: Tennessee 73, Illinois 71