Confidence grows in Dolan at key time of season for Illini women

Feb. 25—CHAMPAIGN — Gretchen Dolan was on the floor for every minute of the fourth quarter for the Illinois women's basketball team in its biggest win of the season on Monday against No. 14 Indiana at State Farm Center.

If ever there was an indication of the trust the freshman guard has earned from second-year Illini coach Shauna Green, it was that Dolan played high-leverage minutes in a Big Ten game the Illini simply had to have to keep its faint hopes of a return trip of the NCAA tournament alive.

Dolan came up with some big plays, too, as Illinois closed out an 86-66 win against the Hoosiers. That the Buffalo, N.Y., native finished with 11 points, two assists and three rebounds wasn't an outlier. The 5-foot-11 guard has seemingly built confidence with each passing moment in the second half of her first college season.

It's been an important role for the Illini amid key reserve Jada Peebles' season-ending Achilles injury at Northwestern on Jan. 14. In the 10 games since, Dolan has put up 7.6 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field and averaging 23.3 minutes per game during that stretch.

"I don't view her as a freshman anymore," Green said of Dolan, who made a trio of three-pointers in an 86-71 win at Penn State on Feb. 15 before following that up with her performance in the upset win against Indiana when Dolan was 5 of 7 from the field.

"I have utmost confidence in her," the Illinois coach continued." "She was great in her help defense and shading (Hoosiers forward Mackenzie) Holmes. With her all year, I've been filling her with confidence: keep shooting, keep driving. That's all I tell her. I don't tell her anything else. I don't get into too much of her shot. She's a flat-out scorer. I'm trying to not screw it up. I just want her to be aggressive. She made some plays (against Indiana) that that's what a kid who scores over 2,000 points in high school does. You can see it, her starting to get a little bit of confidence. She's going in and double-pumping and all this and making plays."

That growth process for Dolan will be put to its toughest test on Sunday, though, when the Illini (13-12, 7-8 Big Ten) face a once-in-a-generation-talent like Caitlin Clark.

It's a revenge game of sorts for Clark and No. 4 Iowa (23-4, 12-3). One of the losses Clark and the Hawkeyes suffered before eventually finishing as the national runner-up to LSU last season was at the hands of Illinois, which shocked Lisa Bluder's team delivering a 90-86 upset on New Year's Day to ring in 2023 when the 6-foot Iowa standout's 32 points (including seven three-pointers) weren't quite enough in Champaign.

"Caitlin Clark is one of one," Green said of the all-time leading scorer in Division I women's basketball with 3,593 career points. "It's so amazing what she does, and what she does on that consistent basis and I look at even last year Caitlin Clark to this year and her progression and her growth even in a year and her maturity, it's really amazing. There may never be another Caitlin Clark. It's why she's the best player, I believe, of all time in the women's side. She can do it all."

But Green admitted Dolan is a "special" talent, as well.

That talent has been evident as Dolan has carved out a significant role on a veteran team. Dolan is the only one of Illinois' top-seven players in Green's rotation that isn't a junior or senior. An experienced backcourt — consisting of seniors Makira Cook and Genesis Bryant and junior Adalia McKenzie — that has allowed Dolan to act like a sponge and soak up the knowledge they have to give her.

"Now, it's February and I think as a freshman you get a little (more) comfortable each and every day, every game," Dolan said. "I'm just more comfortable. It's still a process.

"It's taken a lot, but I think the people around me have really helped, coaches and all my teammates and the older girls, they've helped me so much with my development and just picking up on things every day. They have kind of just taken me under their wing and, they have been really helpful."

Dolan didn't necessarily have a light-bulb moment where it became clear to her that her abilities would translate over to the college game — and the Big Ten.

It was more of an cumulative effect. Dolan arrived on the Illinois campus a prolific scorer, and the first player from western New York to win Miss New York basketball honors after she averaged an eye-popping 38.4 points per game as a senior at Williamsville South High School.

"I think just staying ready, like I think we can all attest to you never know what's going to happen," Dolan said. "Whatever role you might have. So I think I was just staying ready for whatever role that might be and with Jada going down, I knew that people were going to have to step up. So just staying within myself and staying confident.

"I don't know if I would say it was a light-bulb moment, but I definitely think I would say in practice going along when I would see myself progressing. Picking up things every day fairly quickly."

The soft-spoken Dolan belies the poise the freshman guard plays with. Dolan is unfazed by the moment. Big or small. That's been an important development with Illinois finally playing its best basketball in the month of February.

Even so, the Illiniois season is at a crossroads. An upset win against Indiana — while impressive — still isn't enough for Illinois to enter the bubble conversation for the NCAA tournament with the Illini checking in at No. 44 in the NET rankings entering the weekend.

The reality is Illinois might have to win out in the regular season, with three games left starting Sunday at Iowa. And possibly go deep in next month's Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis to sneak into NCAA tournament.

A more self-assured Dolan is a reason Illinois finds itself at least with a chance to play its way into that position.

And her teammates realize the effect Dolan can have the rest of the season.

"Gretchen works really hard and I feel like, yes, she's a freshman, but she doesn't think like a freshman, nor plays like one," McKenzie said. "Like in practice, we're a veteran team, so we're pushing her to be her best.

"I told her, 'You cannot think like a freshman. You're a really good basketball player, so just go out and play.' Every time she steps in a game, she just has this confidence vibe about her and she's just a really key player for us. I'm proud of her."