Adding Mag, Austin Williams and some signs of life from Cliff and Gavin and subtract Shannon from Illinois. Looks like a lot closer game to me, assuming RU remains scrappy and attacks the glass.
Asking a lot to win, but keep Illinois on the perimeter and locate shooters like Goode and RU should have a chance.
RU 72 Illinois 68.
Definitely a different situation with Mag and AWill for us, and no Shannon for them. But I feel like playing this game in Champaign counteracts those personnel differences.
Illinois has really shrunk their rotation of late, going primarily with 7 guys (only Dainja and G Harmon off the bench). Regardless, I would expect us to defend Illinois as follows:
6-8 Guerrier - Hyatt
6-10 Hawkins - Cliff
6-6 Domask - Mag
6-7 Goode - Simpson
6-6 Rodgers - AWill
I put Simpson on Goode because Rodgers is more burly and doesn’t take threes, so that’s a better matchup for AWill, while Goode is a perimeter player and can be tightly defended by 6-3 Simpson.
But, damn, if there ever was a game we could use another 6-4 tough guard (JWill), it’s this one. Illinois is long, athletic, and tough.