Illinois doesn’t need a microscope to know what Friday’s exhibition against Baylor is really about. The scoreboard will matter less than the matchup at the guard spot, where another tough scorer is about to test a perimeter group that already looked shaky once.
The warning sign came against Cincinnati. Tylen Riley carved up Illinois for 31 points and 13 assists, with just three turnovers, and the Illini never found a defender who could slow him down.
Brad Underwood said after the game that his team had “talked personnel” but didn’t talk X’s and O’s, so the scouting report was there. The resistance wasn’t.
That’s what makes Baylor’s Kayden Mingo such a revealing challenge. He already gave Illinois a scare last year as a Penn State freshman, putting up 16 points, five assists and four steals in a game the Illini won but didn’t exactly control.
Now he arrives in a Baylor uniform after going off against preseason No. 1 Florida on Thursday.
In Baylor’s overtime win in Jacksonville, Mingo dropped 31 points on 9-for-15 shooting, grabbed eight rebounds, handed out four assists and drew 11 fouls. He added 9-for-15 from the field, 2-for-4 from deep and 11-for-15 at the line. More important than the raw numbers was the way he scored: he hit a much-improved three, got downhill, used slick footwork on a nice step-through and mixed in tough push floaters that were hard to cleanly contest.
That’s the tricky part for Illinois. Riley was able to beat the Illini a bunch of different ways, and Mingo seems to have that same kind of versatility.
One-dimensional scorers are easier to scheme against. Mingo isn’t living in that lane.
Underwood isn’t expected to build a special plan around stopping him, which means Mingo will likely get his to some degree. The bigger question is whether one of Illinois’ wings, especially Andrej Stojakovic or Quentin Coleman, can rise to the moment and keep him from taking over. Coleman, in particular, has already built a reputation for being a fierce, high-motor competitor.
If Mingo’s production comes from team mistakes and early-season sloppiness, that’s one thing. But if he’s repeatedly isolating Illinois defenders and getting clean looks or easy drives, then the Illini have a perimeter problem that goes beyond one exhibition. That’s the real test Friday: not whether Mingo scores, but whether Illinois shows it has anyone ready to make life difficult for guards like him.
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