Hoosier Gameday: Indiana vs. Illinois

1. Handling Illinois' pressure -- One of the calling cards of a Brad Underwood-coached Illinois team has been its heavy defensive pressure applied to opponents. This year is no different. Despite gaudy looking numbers in most defensive categories, it does own the highest turnover percentage in the Big Ten in forcing league opponents to turn the ball over on 21.4 percent of possible possessions.

2. Continued contributions from Justin Smith and Devonte Green -- Indiana is simply a better team when those two are performing at a high level. The trouble has been that they've had a hard time doing that consistently across multiple games. With the Big Ten tournament coming up, now is an ideal time for it.

3. Defending Giorgi Bezhanishvili -- The 6-foot-9, 235 pound center gave IU all kinds of trouble in the first meeting, collecting 18 points and 7 rebounds while shooting 8 of 10 from the field. Having De'Ron Davis at full strength should help; nonetheless, it will still be interesting to see what Indiana's staff comes up with to limit him.

Mike Miller, The Bloomington Herald-Times: 4 storylines for IU’s game at Illinois

2. IU needs more from Morgan, Langford -- Saturday’s win over Michigan State marked the first time this season that Indiana’s two best players, Juwan Morgan and Romeo Langford, failed to score in double figures in the same game. Morgan and Langford certainly had their moments against the Spartans, including Morgan’s putback to lift the Hoosiers ahead for good. But both players need to be assertive inside Indiana’s lineup this week. Langford was outstanding against the Illini in the Jan. 3 meeting, scoring 28 points while operating as more of a primary ball handler. He got to the rim and drew contact while doing so, finishing the game by going 11-for-15 at the line. Morgan and Langford have been so good, so often this season. With IU’s NCAA Tournament hopes riding on each of the next two games, the Hoosiers need them now more than ever.

Alex Bozich, Inside the Hall: What to expect: Illinois

As John Gasaway of ESPN pointed out on the most recent episode of Podcast on the Brink, the Illini’s young talent finally started to gain some confidence. The top three players for Illinois – Trent Frazier, Ayo Dosumnu and Giorgi Bezhanishvili – are all underclassmen.

Dosumnu and Frazier are one of the Big Ten’s best young guard duos as both average 14 points per game and Bezhanishvili, despite some recent struggles related to foul trouble, has a 35-point game under his belt and two other games with 20 since Illinois last met the Hoosiers.

Illinois is one of the Big Ten’s worst defensive teams, but the Illini have eclipsed the point per possession mark offensively in nine of their last 13 games. That’s significant because Illinois didn’t score more than a point per trip in its first five conference games, all of which were losses.