How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: UCLA Bruins at Illinois Fighting Illini
The Bruins are still looking for their first victory east of the Rockies this season.
The UCLA Bruins are back on the road this week, still in search of their first win of the season east of the Rocky Mountains. The Bruins have been pretty snake-bitten on the road this year, with all of their road victories coming against former Pac-12 teams and Gonzaga (yes I know that was a neutral-site game in LA).
Illinois is going to provide a tough challenge when it comes to reversing that trend. The team has alternated between excellent play, like when it blew out Oregon on the road and went down to the final basket against Tennessee and Michigan State, and moments of complete disinterest, like losing to Southern Cal at home or getting blown out of the water by Maryland. A lot of that is reflective of their head coach; I am not much of a fan of Brad Underwood, and given how UCLA fans have reacted to Mick Cronin, I do not think they would be able to stand a full season of the Brad Underwood Experience. Last year, Underwood led the Illini to the Elite Eight, an exceptional achievement and also the first time he had made it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. It took him seven seasons and a few high-seed flameouts to get there, so we’ll see if this year’s less-talented team is up to the task of carrying him forward.
(PS, I don’t hold it against him that he got knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by Steve Alford once. Underwood was at Steven F. Austin and had already pulled off one upset in that tournament, while Alford was getting dragged to a respectable season by Kyle Anderson, something that would become a running theme for him.)
Lineup
Illinois has a number of players UCLA will need to look out for, but I wanted to start with the one most familiar to Bruin fans: starting point guard and Arizona transfer Kylan Boswell. UCLA fans heard repeatedly over the past few years just how young and full of potential he was from Arizona fans, and now that he’s in Illinois, he’s…basically still the same player he was at Arizona. Boswell has the makeup of a slashing point guard but loves his own shot way too much, and he’s a subpar outside shooter and adequate distributor of the ball. He does play solid on-ball defense but can get burned rather often.
Illinois best player has been freshman Kasparas Jakucionis from Lithuania. Jakucionis is nominally the shooting guard but he operates with the ball in his hands more often than not, and is leading the team in both points (15.6 PPG) and assists (115 on the season). He’s a solid rebounder and uses his size well defensively, and so much of the offense for the Illini will rest on his shoulders. That also presents the biggest weakness for Illinois, as Jakucionis is very capable of having off nights where he shoots his team out of games. A miserable showing on the road against Rutgers stands out here, but losses to Maryland and Nebraska featured him going below 50% on a large volume of shots, and he fouled out of the loss to Michigan State after only nine minutes of play.
The Illini play with a ton of size, and no one encapsulates that more than big man Tomislav Ivisic. The 7’1”, 255 lb. center from Croatia definitely fits the mold of a European big that we’ve seen trending in basketball, as he’s a skilled passer and can stretch out to the three-point line with some consistency. He leads the team in rebounds and does offer some rim protection, though he is fairly unathletic and relies on his size and strength rather than athleticism. The more interesting part of this is how little Ivisic gets used offensively; despite being second on the team in scoring, his usage rate sits at only 21.1%, and he plays as more of a four on offense while teammate Morez Johnson takes more of the post touches.
Johnson is nominally the power forward on this squad, but like I just said, he acts as the post player on offense. He has not taken a three-point shot all year, and does not shoot much in general (Illinois’s offense is surprisingly bad at taking advantage of its size to work inside). He’s more of a shot blocker than Ivisic is, but his blocks mostly come in help action rather than as the primary defender.
The last starter, Ben Humrichous, is the opposite of Johnson. Humrichous is the shooter on the team, with the majority of his shots coming from distance, where he is shooting 35.3% on the season. Humrichous is also the weak link of the Illinios starting group; he’s not great when he has to put the ball on the ground, and he’s a subpar defender when having to guard smaller, quicker small forwards. This is not to say Humrichous is bad - he’s more than capable of lighting UCLA up from distance if they do not focus in on him - but he’s also the guy UCLA would like to target on defense if at all possible.
One last player to watch here is freshman Will Riley, who has really come alive in recent games with some sterling performances off the bench. Riley is reaching that point where the game starts to slow down for a freshman playing large minutes, and he has perhaps the most upside of anyone on this Illinois squad.
Analysis
UCLA is likely going to have a tough time matching up with the size of Illinois, especially if Aday Mara is still feeling the effects of the flu that limited him against Penn State, but that does not mean UCLA does not possess an effective counterpunch. The Illini are aggressive on the perimeter but are surprisingly bad when it comes to causing turnovers, while they themselves are prone to turnovers. That has been the recipe for success for UCLA over the past few games, so that is something to watch for. The other thing going for UCLA is that they’ve been able to win games with their defense when the offense starts to struggle. Illinois has not been able to do similar, and if they get in an early shooting slump it can permeate their entire game.
For UCLA, one guy I am watching in particular is Skyy Clark, who is returning to Champaign for the first time since transferring out of the program two years ago. Clark is having a resurgent season now that he has returned home to Los Angeles, but how will the Illinois faithful great him in his return, and will Clark be able to handle all of the outside pressure from the game?
Listen to the Game With TMB
Today’s game is back on Peacock (for I think the last time?) with nepo-baby Jac Collinsworth and Stephen Bardo on the call. You can also choose to listen to Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray on the radio or online instead. To listen online, just right-click on the link below so that you can open up another tab and have it going while you chat in the comments below. Listen to today’s game online.
This is your UCLA men’s basketball vs. Illinois Fighting Illini game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream tonight’s game:
UCLA Men’s Basketball (18-6, 9-4)
Opponent: Illinois Fighting Illini (16-8, 8-6)
Series Record: UCLA leads the series 6-4
When: 5:00 pm PT, Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Where: State Farm Center, Champaign, IL
TV: None
Live Stream: Peacock
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: AM 570 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 389 (UCLA feed)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!!
Postgame much later tonight, both Joe and I are tied up with stuff so you should see it late tonight.
Heading this off for everyone: sickness is gone from the team, but Mara in particular is suffering symptoms related to it still. Bilodeau also still not 100%.