Good Morning, Illini Nation: Turning the focus to defense
· Yahoo Sports
Oct. 5—Illinois hasn't had bad defenses during its recent run reestablishing the program has one of the best in the country, but the metrics have certainly leaned toward the offense leading the way.
Last year's Final Four team ranked second in adjusted offensive efficiency, per Bart Torvik, and 20th defensively. The season prior it was 14th and 41st. The 2024 Elite Eight squad ranked fourth and 91st. The No. 1-seeded NCAA tournament team in 2021 was the most balanced at eighth in adjusted offensive efficiency and 10th in adjusted defensive efficiency.
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The goal for the 2026-27 season? A more aggressive defense. A defense that can force some turnovers as fuel for what's expected to be a significantly more uptempo team.
That's the one area where the Illinois defense was a non-factor last season. The Illini had a top 20 overall defense yet were the least effective team in forcing turnovers in the country — 365th out of 365 Division I teams — doing so on just 11.6 percent of their possessions.
"I think we're more athletic," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "I think we're bigger. I think we're longer. Our concepts are a little bit different. I think we're trying to be a little more aggressive. We want to do that without giving up layups. You add Quentin (Coleman), you add Lincoln (Williams), you add Ethan (Brown) and you've got a bigger, stronger, more confident Andrej (Stojakovic), and I think our perimeter defense could be a strength for us. I think our ability to protect the rim is and should be very good.
"I'm excited about what this group could become defensively. There's no doubt about what our run was about late in the year. We got really good defensively, and taking away teams' abilities to score at the rim and not get layups was something we did a very good job of. We've got to continue to do that as we move forward. I like the makeup of this team. I like our athleticism, and our tenacity, our bite, has been really, really good."