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Message: [QUOTE="WhereistheDove?, post: 4937716, member: 1109"] Top notch stuff as always. My keys: [LIST=1] [*]Avoid foul trouble: seems obvious but Shannon can draw fouls like no one we’ve seen this year. Going to be huge to manage foul trouble from Castle/Clingan especially. Can’t have Clingan picking up dumb ones on offensive rebounds like he did yesterday. If both stay out of foul trouble, I just don’t think Shannon will be able to go off and get his efficient 25+ and I don’t think there’s a realistic path for Illinois to win if he doesn’t absolutely fill it up. [*]Create foul trouble: Shannon can be out of control on offense and both he and Hawkins can get very lackadaisical on defense. Hawkins is going to give up a ton of size and strength to Clingan on D and that combined with our guards taking it into his chest on drives could put one or both of them on the bench. The benefit to Shannon being on the bench is obvious, but if Hawkins has to sit, I like our matchups on D way better with Dainja camped in the paint and not able to draw Clingan away from the basket. [*]Keep Illinois out of transition: this is where Shannon is by far the most dangerous. Illinois was clearly bothered at times by Iowa State slowing down the pace. If we impose our pace and take care of the ball, that cuts off a lot of what Illinois wants to do. [*]Constant movement: Illinois is not a good defensive team. ISU is a bad offensive team and was getting whatever they wanted in the second half against Illinois. Illinois loses focus on defense, doesn’t have particularly impressive rim protection, and is just generally not disciplined on the defensive side of the ball. I truly don’t know how you prep those players to read and react to UConn’s offensive sets. There should be plenty of easy baskets available if UConn executes their game. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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