The message was plain, if not slightly morbid: In an attempt to get his players to forget the past and buy into his system, Illinois coach Bruce Weber put on black attire last year and performed a mock funeral for former coach Bill Self.
Weber, in his second season, has needed no such gimmicks.
The Fighting Illini have completely bought into Weber’s motion offense, which gives players more freedom to make cuts, set screens and adjust to defenses. As a result, they boast a perfect record (17-0, 3-0 Big Ten) and the nation’s No. 1 ranking.
Illinois is a deep team, having returned its top 10 scorers from last year. The team also has been fortunate to avoid the injury bug and maintain remarkable stability — the same five players have started every game for the Illini this season.
Illinois relies on preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Deron Williams to kick start its offense. The junior guard leads the league with 6.9 assists per game, more than one assist better than Iowa’s Jeff Horner, second on the list. He is joined in the backcourt by junior Dee Brown, creating arguably the best guard tandem in the nation.
Northwestern’s pair of junior guards, T.J. Parker and Mohamed Hachad, will have their hands full. Hachad, who injured his groin in practice earlier this week, was limited to six minutes at Michigan on Wednesday, but coach Bill Carmody said he’s good to go this weekend.
As a team, the Illini love to share the wealth. Not only do they lead the Big Ten in assists at 20.5 per game, they have three players — Williams, Brown and senior guard Luther Head — who rank in the top five in the conference in that category.
“The thing that impresses me the most is how unselfish they are,” Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. “I think the key when you get that much talent together is everybody accepting roles and everybody getting on the same page.”
Four players average more than 12 points per contest, led by Head at 15.8. Junior forward James Augustine leads the team in rebounds at 7.4 per game and was recently named the Big Ten’s Player of the Week. Brown and senior forward Roger Powell Jr. also have received that honor this season.
As a team, the Illini lead the Big Ten in a multitude of categories, including field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and turnover margin. Their plus 20.2 scoring margin ranks second in the league, behind Michigan State.
Most impressively, Illinois has blown out three ranked teams — then-No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 16 Gonzaga and No. 18 Cincinnati — by an average of 19 points.
“They’re just playing extremely well, at a very high level,” NU coach Bill Carmody said.
Reach Anthony Tao at [email protected].
