Indiana will look to bounce back from Saturday’s 85-60 loss to Iowa when it hosts Illinois tonight at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Fighting Illini are 12-4 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play.

Tuesday’s game will be broadcast on Peacock at 7 p.m. ET:

(Sign up for a Peacock subscription to watch the IU men host Illinois on Tuesday and the IU women host Illinois on Thursday.)

Indiana’s five-game winning streak ended Saturday night when Iowa defeated the Hoosiers at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It was the program’s worst regular-season Big Ten loss under Mike Woodson.

The schedule only gets more difficult for the Hoosiers from here. Indiana hosts No. 19 Illinois tonight and the Fighting Illini are coming off a surprising 82-72 loss to USC on Saturday at State Farm Center. It’s a crucial week for Brad Underwood’s team, which hopes to be right in the thick of the Big Ten title race. Illinois travels to Michigan State on Sunday.

For Indiana, it’s a chance to win again against a program that is currently ranked in KenPom’s top 15. The Hoosiers have just one Quad 1 win this season and all of their next 10 contests currently fall in Quad 1.

MEET THE FIGHTING ILLINI

Underwood is one of the top coaches in the Big Ten. He rebuilt the Illini roster after a significant roster turnover in the offseason. The Illini reached the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, but lost to eventual national champion UConn.

Notable losses from last season’s roster include Marcus Domask, Terrence Shannon Jr., Coleman Hawkins, Quincy Guerrier, Luke Goode and Dain Dainja. Ty Rodgers is on the roster in Champaign this season but is redshirting.

This Illinois squad is a mix of elite freshmen, a sophomore big man in his first college season, and several key additions to the transfer portal.

Freshman point guard Kasparas Jakucionis is the team’s leading scorer. However, he missed the last two games due to a forearm injury. Illinois beat Penn State in Champaign with 39 points without Jakucionis, but his absence was felt in the loss to USC.

The 6-foot-6 point guard from Lithuania is averaging 16.4 points on 49.6 percent shooting. He is 29-for-70 (41.4 percent) on three-pointers and 63-72 (87.5 percent) at the free throw line. Jakucionis ranks fifth in the Big Ten in assist rate, averaging 5.4 assists per game. He also ranks third in rebounding with 5.6 per game.

Next to Jakucionis in the backcourt is Arizona transfer Kylan Boswell. The 6-foot-2 guard is from Champaign and played his first two seasons with IU big man Oumar Ballo in Tucson. Boswell struggled with his perimeter shooting. He is just 18 of 68 (26.5 percent) from distance. In the last two games, Boswell has committed 11 turnovers. He is an excellent defender who can put pressure on the ball and turn the opponent over. Boswell currently ranks eighth in the league in steal rate and has had eight steals in the last two games.

Louisville transfer Tre White is the team’s third-leading scorer with 11.3 points per game. The 6-foot-3 junior struggled under Kenny Payne last season, but Underwood and the Illini team have turned him into an efficient scorer. White makes 63.4 percent of his twos and is an 89.3 percent free throw shooter.

Evansville transfer Ben Humrichous is an elite shooter who began his career at Huntington University and has steadily worked his way up the college leagues. The Tipton native has made 96 of his 125 field goal attempts from three distances and is shooting 37.5 percent from long range. At 6-foot-1, Humrichous has excellent size in the four-joint.

Croatian big man Tomislav Ivisic is a matchup nightmare at 6-foot-10. The sophomore is mobile, can stretch the floor and is an efficient finisher. Ivisic leads Illinois in rebounding with 8.6 points per game and is second with 12.8 points per game. He shoots 35.8 percent on 3s and 62.1 percent on 2s. His mobility will likely be an issue for Ballo, who will need to keep him away from the basket.

The Illini’s key reserves are freshman Will Riley, sophomore Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and freshman Morez Johnson Jr.

Riley is a projected first-round pick in the NBA draft in June. He transferred to the class of 2024 and won’t turn 19 until next month. Riley is averaging 10.9 points in 21.9 minutes per game off the bench.

A Lafayette native, Gibbs-Lawhorn gained valuable experience on the Elite Eight team last season and has taken on a larger role this year. Gibbs-Lawhorn is 28-for-39 (71.8 percent) on 2s and is an excellent free throw shooter at 77.8 percent.

Johnson was a top 35 prospect from Chicago in the 2024 class and is a capable scorer and excellent rebounder in his first season. He is averaging 5.8 points and shooting 64.8 percent while grabbing 6.6 rebounds per game, which is second on the team. Johnson averages just 14.7 minutes per game.

SPEED-FREE PREVIEW

(Notes: All national rankings in the table and text below refer to Sunday’s games.)

Illinois is an elite defensive team, ranking 11th in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metrics. Opponents only assist on 39.8 percent of their field goals against the Illini, and Underwood’s team excels at forcing tough, contested plays on opponents.

Illinois ranks in the top 30 in offensive rebound rate and fifth in defensive rebound percentage. The Illini also excel at defending without fouling, and they rank 41st nationally in opponent free throw percentage.

Offensively, Illinois is an average 3-point shooting team (33.1 percent) and ranks in the top 40 nationally in 2-point field goal percentage (57.1). Jakucionis’ status is significant because the Illini will be a different team offensively when he plays.

What matters

The KenPom prediction has Illinois at five, with a 33 percent chance of a Hoosier win. Bart Torvik’s rankings favor the Illini by six, with a 30 percent chance of an IU win.

Indiana has held its own at home this season (10-0), but this is the first game in Assembly Hall against an opponent ranked higher than 68 in KenPom. Illinois already has two Big Ten road wins and needs Tuesday’s game to avoid falling three games behind Michigan and Michigan State in the loss column of the Big Ten race.

For Indiana, a win would give the Hoosiers a second Quad 1 win and momentum heading into Friday’s road trip to Columbus. Jakucionis’ health is a major storyline on Tuesday. Illinois is a different team with its star point guard. If he is unable to play, it would be the second time in less than two weeks that a Hoosier opponent will be without its best guard (Dylan Harper).

Recovering and avoiding extended dry spells will be crucial to the Hoosiers’ victory. The Illini are one of the best rebounding teams in the country and can play stifling defense. IU’s guards will have to excel in attacking drop coverage in the pick-and-roll and be much sharper on defense than they were in Saturday’s blowout loss at Iowa.

Submitted to: Illinois Fighting Illini