Illinois, the Big Ten leader with an 8-1 record, is about to hit the road. The Illini play Friday night and Sunday at Iowa and Penn State, two houses of horrors for visiting teams.
“Here’s where we find out if we have a killer instinct,” said Illini coach Theresa Grentz, “or if we’re just the nice guys the kids are. . .”
Grentz sounded as pumped up Tuesday as the Broncos were going into the Super Bowl. Her words carried the “respect `em, but don’t fear `em” theme she expects to rub off on Ashley Berggren, Tauja Catchings, and their teammates.
“The weather in Champaign is gorgeous today,” Grentz gushed. “The president is going to be here tomorrow. Then a great weekend of basketball. Excellent facilities. Two of my favorite places to play in. We don’t always win, but these are the kind of weekends I most enjoy.”
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Iowa is 6-2 at home this season. Penn State is 9-2. Illinois lost its last 13 games on the Hawkeyes’ floor and the only three games it ever played at Penn State. Grentz has learned not to fret about such stats.
“I don’t worry about playing on the road,” Grentz said. “My mentors taught me that. Jack Ramsay and Jim Lynam, who coached men’s teams in Philadelphia when I was growing up. Kathy Rush at Immaculata. They said, `Go play the stupid game and don’t worry about it.’ “
The bigggest problems Iowa presents, Grentz said, “are size and quickness” of players such as 6-foot Angela Hamblin, 6-4 Chicagoan Tangela Smith, and 6-4 Amy Herrig.
Grentz promised that one thing the Illinois-Iowa game will not be is a “revenge” game to atone for the Illini’s loss to the Hawkeyes in last year’s Big Ten tournament.
“The `revenge’ idea is the most stupid reason to do anything in life, let alone in a basketball game,” Grentz said. “There are so many other good, positive factors. Iowa played well and deserved it win.”
Top player: Conference USA player of the week was Houston’s 5-11 senior forward Jennifer Jones, a Chicago native. She earned the award for scoring 30 points and grabbing 15 rebounds against Memphis and adding another double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds against Alabama-Birmingham.
Jones was an All-State pick at Whitney Young High and MVP on a national championship AAU 16-and under team. However, she was not widely recruited out of high school. That’s because she was such an exceptional student that she graduated in three years, thus escaping the recruiting hassle of a fourth-year prep star.
Playing the best: Struggling through a losing season has not changed DePaul coach Doug Bruno’s scheduling philosophy to “play the best.” However, he’s questioning his wisdom in booking games against four tough non-conference teams–Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Northern Illinois, and Northwestern–after the start of DePaul’s Conference USA schedule.
Bruno would prefer in the future to play the tough non-league opponents before Jan. 1, but this is difficult because DePaul has exams around Thanksgiving, and many other schools have exams in early December. Bruno hasn’t given up hope that his young team could make a run for an NCAA bid in the conference tournament, especially if Mfon Udoka and Fuchsia Forrester fully recover from injuries.
Udodka, still leading the nation with a 13.8 per game rebounding average, missed three games due to an ankle injury.
UIC update: Illinois-Chicago sophomore Jennifer Cook from Evansville, Ind., had never scored more than six points as a Flame until she came off the bench and hit 16 to help in an 86-66 victory over defending Midwestern Collegiate Conference champ Detroit Mercy.
The Flames’ Sara Petersen from Glenbrook South has moved into second place on the school’s all-time list with 116 three-point baskets. Joanne McCarthy’s UIC career record is secure. McCarthy drilled 238 from beyond the arc.