Illinois is taking a more deliberate look at Baylor than it did in its first exhibition, and Brad Underwood made it clear Thursday that the Bears will get a full scouting treatment when the teams meet Friday at 7 p.m. CT on B1G+.
That’s a shift from the 105-96 exhibition win at Cincinnati, where Underwood said the staff didn’t do any specific prep. This time, he expects a more detailed game plan and more lineup combinations as the Illini work through their second of three exhibitions before the season opener Nov. 2 against FDU.
Illinois still has one more tune-up left, against UIC on Oct. 28.
“There was no Mirkovic in the Cincinnati game, and there won’t be one here either,” Underwood said. “We’ll continue to monitor his progress.
We’ll always err on the side of patience with him in terms of making sure he’s ready for the long haul, and that nothing reoccurs. And so he will not participate in this one.
“He just does what the doctors tell him to do and the trainer tells him to do,” Underwood said. “And in that recovery, he does his little shooting.
And he does all of his pool, and most of his conditioning is all done in the training room with them at this point. Yeah, until we get scans and X-rays and doctor’s opinions, that’s where it continues to stand at this point.”
The way Underwood framed it, David Mirkovic is still being handled carefully, with Illinois unwilling to rush its preseason All-American back onto the floor. Even so, the tone of his update left open the possibility that Mirkovic is moving in the right direction and could be available when the games start to count, perhaps by the opener or by the Nov. 10 trip to Texas Tech.
Underwood said the rotation approach in exhibitions should remain broad.
“I expect us to be a team that plays a lot of guys throughout the season, but especially in these exhibitions,” Underwood said. “So I wouldn’t expect too much difference, other than we’ll look at a little more combinations than we did in the first game.”
Twelve Illinois players saw at least five minutes against Cincinnati, and nine reached double figures in minutes. That kind of spread fits Underwood’s NBA-style exhibition model, though it doesn’t necessarily tell us much about how he’ll divide minutes once the season starts. Still, his comments about playing a lot of guys “throughout the season” stood out, especially given how often he’s leaned on a shorter rotation in the past.
Baylor’s guards are the biggest problem on the scouting sheet, and Underwood did not downplay that challenge.
“This is a very, very good guard backcourt,” he said. “They can shoot it.
They can drive it. We’ll be a little more focused on the scouting report.
We did nothing for Cincy. We’ll see how we handle those things.
“They’re both really good players,” Underwood said of the Mingo brothers. “Kayden hurt us last year at Penn State.
He’s terrific. I saw Dylan on the circuit.
I think they’ve got others. I think [Brett] Decker’s a proven 17-, 18-point a game scorer at Liberty.
Both Mingoes have tremendous midrange [games]. I think that Decker and [Elijah] Williams are guys that can really, really shoot it.”
That makes Friday a useful early stress test for Illinois’ defensive pieces, especially the players expected to do the heavy lifting on that end such as Quentin Coleman, Andrej Stojakovic and maybe even Ethan Brown. The Bears bring enough shooting and shot-making to force real answers.
Underwood said the staff will be looking for more precise execution, both in preparation and once the game starts.
“We’ll pay a little more attention to it and see if we can get dialed in,” Underwood said of scouting. “And there’s some tape out there on them, so we can get a little better look of what the tendencies are, and then we’ll see if we can adjust and make those strategic-type decisions during the game once we see it.”
After the looser approach at Cincinnati, the Baylor exhibition should show a little more of what Illinois is trying to become on defense. Underwood said that side of the floor takes time to build, especially with younger players learning how much communication is required on every possession.
“I’ve always said that the hardest thing to do is build defensive chemistry,” Underwood said. “It’s a side of the floor where you have to have elite communication.
Communication’s two-part. You got to speak it, and then you have got to hear it and listen to it.
“When you’re in ball-screen coverages, when you’re in rotations at different times - everybody’s got to be on point speaking it and then hearing it. So we’ll get better at all those things. That’s one of the things that are real challenges with young guys, is understanding that part of it.”
That’s the lens for Friday: a more serious defensive test, a more detailed scouting plan, and another look at how Illinois handles a talented backcourt while Mirkovic remains sidelined. If Baylor pushes the ball, shoots it well and piles up points because of breakdowns, it could reveal how far the Illini still have to go before the defense settles in.
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