Illini WBB uses offseason to add much-needed brought in two freshmen

Illinois needed to add depth after last season and brought in two freshmen and two transfers ahead of the 2023 season.

CHARLOTTE — The Illinois women’s basketball team was completely depleted by the time they traveled to South Bend, Indiana, for the NCAA Tournament play-in game, and possibly even before then.

In their first year in the state, Illinois surprised everyone by winning more games than anyone could have imagined in their debut season under head coach Shauna Green and her coaching staff. For the first time in twenty years, the Illini qualified for the NCAA Tournament. On New Year’s Day, the Illini defeated Iowa—yes, that Iowa—at home. After spending far too much time at the bottom of the Big Ten, the Illini brought attention to the program once again.

And yet there were still flaws in the roster, which showed up both in Minneapolis for the Big Ten Tournament and at Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament. Illinois had star power — Makira Cook, Kendall Bostic, Genesis Bryant and Adalia McKenzie — but desperately lacked depth.

Starting forward Brynn Shoup-Hill and rotation guard Jayla Oden (since transferred to Penn State) missed the final two games of the regular season and both games in the Big Ten Tournament due to injury. Shoup-Hill returned to play 28 minutes against Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament, but Oden was still out. To compound matters, Bostic was not at full health against Mississippi State, and it was noticeable against the Bulldogs.

After a magnificent season — which gave Illinois hope and momentum heading into this season — the Illini were simply gassed. The depth issues hit. Hard.

Guard Jada Peebles told the Illini Inquirer, “When we got to the last couple of games, it was really a big push to have our legs under us for those shots and anything in general.” “We were truly feeling those minutes on us toward the end of the season.”

Peebles claimed that during the Big Ten Tournament, exhaustion really set in. Quite understandably. The Illini mostly used a five-man rotation until Mississippi State, when Shoup-Hill returned. In the last five games, the following five players averaged 28 minutes or more:

• Peebles: 34.8 minutes
• Cook: 34.2 minutes
• McKenzie: 32.4 minutes
• Bryant: 31 minutes
• Bostic: 28 minutes
• Shoup-Hill: 28 minutes against Mississippi State

Five players — Cook, McKenzie, Bostic, Bryant and Shoup-Hill — averaged more than 25 minutes last season while Peebles averaged 24.8. The next highest? Oden at 16.2 minutes. No one else averaged more than 10 per game.

The coaching staff knew depth was paramount to build on its successful season and a winning year combined with the staff’s past success allowed for a stronger sales pitch in the transfer portal in combination with two freshmen who committed before the season: guard Cori Allen and wing Gretchen Dolan.

 

Allen averaged 8.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists as a senior on a loaded Montverde Academy team that won a GEICO National Championship. Dolan was a prolific scorer in Buffalo (N.Y.) and averaged 38.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 5.0 steals and 2.0 blocks as a senior.

Still, Illinois desperately needed more front-court depth and added North Carolina State center Camille Hobby and Duke forward Shay Bollin.

“Last year in the NCAA Tournament, we were banged up and we didn’t have many options after that,” Green said. “The most exciting thing for me this year is we actually have more bodies and we have more depth.”

Hobby has spent the last four seasons at N.C. State and started all 32 games last season, during which she averaged 8.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 21.3 minutes and shot 84.0% from the free throw line. During her four-year career at N.C. Hobby played in 113 games and started 33 while averaging 5.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in 13.6 minutes.

Bollin spent one season at Duke and appeared in eight games off the bench. She averaged 2.4 points and 1.0 rebounds while shooting 9-of-18 (50%) from the field and missed all six of her 3-pointers. She was the No. 33-ranked prospect in the nation, according to ESPN, in the Class of 2022 and missed the better part of her junior and senior seasons with injuries.

There’s still plenty left to decide before the Nov. 7 season-opener against Morehead State. Will Hobby and Bostic share the floor at all together? If not, how will the rotation work? If so, how does it look together? How much can be expected of Bollin, Allen and Dolan?

Those questions will get sorted out, as well as how deep the rotation can reasonably get during the course of the season. But Illinois clearly has added depth and depth that Green and the coaching staff have spoken highly off this fall.

“Definitely preservation,” Bryant said of the added depth. “I feel like towards the end of the year you could kind of tell that we were kind of winding down and had a lot of injuries towards the end. Just having those people come in and help us with minutes, I feel like that does a lot for us.”

Added McKenzie: “Adding more players and pieces means a lot. You can do more, you can learn more. It’s all about building more for the team. It helps with subbing and competition in practice. It helps all around.”