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Women's basketball Game 10 preview: Arkansas vs. Illinois, 10 a.m., Wednesday

joe vozzelli, the news-gazette, champaign-urbana, ill.
·6 min read

Dec. 20—Lineups

Illinois (5-4)

Starters

P Name Yr. Ht. PPG Hometown

G Makira Cook Sr. 5-6 11.0 Cincinnati

G Genesis Bryant Sr. 5-6 15.3 Jonesboro, Ga.

G Adalia McKenzie Jr. 5-10 10.3 Brooklyn Park, Minn.

F Brynn Shoup-Hill Jr. 6-3 5.9 Goshen, Ind.

F Kendall Bostic Sr. 6-2 12.3 Kokomo, Ind.

FYI: Of the Illini players who have taken at least seven three-point attempts this season, Bryant is the most successful at 38.5 percent. That includes finishing 6 for 15 from three-point range in Sunday's 69-66 home loss to Missouri, with Bryant making a career-high six three-pointers. Still, Bryant's three-point percentage is down from 40.4 as a junior, with two of the more stark contrasts coming from Cook and . Cook was a 34.2 percent three-point shooter last season (currently at 30.8 as a senior), while Peebles made 45.2 percent of her three-point attempts last winter compared to 36.4 so far this season.

Off the bench

P Name Yr. Ht. PPG Hometown

G Jada Peebles Sr. 5-10 5.6 Raleigh, N.C.

C Camille Hobby Sr. 6-3 7.4 Jacksonville, Fla.

G Gretchen Dolan Fr. 5-11 4.0 Buffalo, N.Y.

Arkansas (9-3)

Starters

P Name Yr. Ht. PPG Hometown

G Makayla Daniels Gr. 5-8 11.8 Frederick, Md.

G Samara Spencer Jr. 5-7 11.7 Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

G Taliah Scott Fr. 5-9 23.2 Orange Park, Fla.

G Saylor Poffenbarger R-So. 6-2 10.3 Middletown, Md.

F Maryam Dauda R-So. 6-4 8.3 Bentonville, Ark.

FYI: Scott's scoring average ranks sixth nationally, with the Razorbacks' freshman guard only behind Iowa senior guard Caitlin Clark (30.2), Southern California freshman guard JuJu Watkins (26.8), Utah senior forward Alissa Pili (24.2), Notre Dame freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo (23.6) and Villanova junior guard Lucy Olsen (23.5).

Off the bench

P Name Yr. Ht. PPG Hometown

G Carly Keats So. 5-8 5.3 Choctaw, Miss.

F Jenna Lawrence Fr. 6-3 2.3 Farmington, Ark.

F Cristina Sánchez Cerqueira Fr. 6-1 0.6 Granada, Spain

Details

Site: Massimino Court at Student Life Center (1,600); West Palm Beach, Fla.

Radio: Mike Koon will have the call on WDWS 1400-AM and 93.9-FM.

Streaming: FloHoops.

Series: Illinois leads 2-0.

Last meeting: Illinois won 100-81 against Arkansas on Jan. 8, 1997, in Fayetteville, Ark.

FYI: The Illini have not lost three consecutive games under Shauna Green. A 69-66 loss to Missouri on Sunday marked only the second time Illinois has dropped back-to-back games with Green, who is 27-14 at Illinois, on the sidelines. The Illini lost their final two games of the 2022-23 season, a 73-58 defeat to Maryland in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis followed by a 70-56 loss to Mississippi State in a First Four game of the NCAA tournament in South Bend, Ind.

Beat writer Joe Vozzelli's storylines

Tightening up the rotation moving forward?

Shauna Green played with a shortened rotation in Illinois' Braggin Rights loss to Missouri. By design. It still flew in the face of the second-year Illinois coach touting the added depth her team had before the 2023-24 season. That hasn't really shown itself as of yet. The Illini stuck to a seven-player rotation — with six of the seven key returnees from last season's 22-10 team — in the three-point loss to the Tigers. Starters Makira Cook, Genesis Bryant, Adalia McKenzie and Kendall Bostic each logged at least 34 minutes, while Jada Peebles gave Green 29 minutes off the bench followed by starting forward Brynn Shoup-Hill (19) and reserve center Camille Hobby (six).

"As you get into these games, I think everyone tightens up their rotations," Green said. "As you get into tough games, it's a tight game (against Missouri). I knew we were going to go small a lot just because of the matchups and this is time, yeah, things get tighter because it's going into Big Ten. That's it, and I think they did really well, so those are our returners that have a lot of experience. Just a lot of (about) matchups."

Confident in her team amid shaky start to season

Illinois did not lose its fourth game last season until an 83-72 home loss to Indiana on Jan. 18. This season, the Illini already have four losses and December is just over halfway done after losses at Marquette, to then-No. 16 Notre Dame in Washington, D.C., and home defeats to Michigan and Missouri in the span of a week. It means Illinois has slipped to 60th in the NET rankings after the Illini found themselves in the top 35 ahead of an 84-48 loss to the Wolverines on Dec. 10 in the Big Ten opener.

"When you play the right way (against Missouri), and you play hard and you do what you're supposed to do, and it's an even game as this, it's frustrating," Green said, "but at least you can sleep at night knowing your team, they're together. Our team worked. They were ready. They were prepared. They played their butts off. ... This program, we're still building. We're still building who we are, what our identity is, but I feel really, really good and I feel really, really good about the people we have in our locker room."

Guarding the three-point arc

Arkansas, at least on paper, looks like a similar team to Missouri. Especially in how the Razorbacks generate offense. But seventh-year coach Mike Neighbors has even more of a high-volume three-point shooting team, with Arkansas 11th in the NCAA in three-pointers made (9.7 per game) and third nationally in attempted three-pointers (30.2 per game). The Tigers made seven three-pointers on 30.4 percent shooting beyond the arc, both were below Missouri's season averages.

"We were elite last year at guarding (the three-point line), and it was just something (going into the Missouri game), we talked about," Green said. "You can see a couple of those shots they made, they were contested. "

The News-Gazette's Pick

Arkansas 78, Illinois 74

Did the Illini improve Sunday? It would be hard not to after an embarrassing loss to Michigan. But until Illinois beats a high-level opponent, it's difficult to count on the Illini to deliver in that situation (N-G prediction record: 6-3).