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Thursday, Jan. 16

Yopp shuffles lineup to meet SMS

[JAN. 16, 2003]  NORMAL -- A change in the starting five which adds 5-foot-11 junior Stacey White in place of 5-foot-6 junior Desiree Gutierrez will be something different for the Illinois State women's basketball team in its 7:05 p.m. Thursday game in Redbird Arena with Southwest Missouri State. But head coach Jenny Yopp doesn't believe the challenge will change for her Redbirds.

"We need to put 40 minutes together and avoid those runs," said Yopp, whose Redbirds have fallen victim to a few minutes of domination in each of their first three conference games. Illinois State, 2-10 overall, 0-3 in the Missouri Valley, outscored three of its last four opponents in the second half during its current four-game losing streak. With freshman forward Sophie Tirtiaux sidelined by a stress fracture, Yopp has one less option on what might be the league's deepest bench.

Katie Donovan, a 6-foot perimeter player who is among the Valley leaders in rebounding this season, thinks the Redbirds have to focus on one play at a time to avoid falling victim to opponents' spurts.

"Sometimes we try to do too much in one possession," said Donovan. "Then we get frustrated. We have to keep that from happening just by trying to execute one play at a time ... not trying to do too much."

Donovan's board work has done plenty lately. With a game-high 11 at Bradley, she is averaging 8.0 rebounds per game over the last six contests. Senior Steph Reichle, a pretty good rebounder herself before career-ending injuries, keeps Donovan on track and on the boards.

"Rebounding should be my focus," said Donovan, who played on the Canadian Under-19 National Team last summer. "Earlier in the year, I was worried about my shots going in and got away from that. Steph keeps me focused on rebounding. She says things like 'get seven (rebounds) in the first half.' She helps me with little challenges like that."

Yopp appreciates it when Donovan feels challenged. "The one thing about Katie is that she won't back down from a challenge," said Yopp.

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Yopp, who will start junior guard Taren O'Brien plus sophomores Donovan, Michelle Harakas and Erin Keeney against SMS, knows the Lady Bears are playing well coming off a pair of home-court wins against league favorites Drake and Creighton last weekend. The Bears, who already have the 2002 Valley Freshman of the Year in Jenni Lingor, have been getting big performances lately from junior college transfer Meg Tierney and freshman guard Kari Koch. All three average in double figures in scoring.

"SMS is a solid team," said Yopp. "Their newcomers are familiar from the recruiting process, so their success does not surprise us."

The Creighton and Drake wins have SMS, 7-6, 3-1, tied for third in the Valley race with ISU's next opponent, Wichita State, and behind co-leaders Evansville and Indiana State, both 3-0. First-year coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson has changed the look of the Lady Bear defense, shifting from man-to-man to zone at a place where man-to-man dominated during the 15-year coaching tenure of Cheryl Burnett. Burnett took the team to two NCAA Final Fours before resigning after last season.

Yopp sees the SMS game as typical of the challenges her team will face game after game in a Valley lineup that might be the strongest in league history from top to bottom.

"We know nobody's going to make it easy for us," said Yopp. "The conference is awesome. We expect another major challenge this weekend from both SMS and Wichita State (7:05 p.m. Saturday)."

[Thomas Lamonica, Illinois State University]

SMS defense stifles Illinois State; Redbirds fall 60-46

[JAN. 16, 2003]  SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Vince Greene and Trey Guidry combined for 29 Illinois State points, but the SMS defense was too much for the Redbirds, who committed 22 turnovers in the game, as the Bears handed the Redbirds their fifth Missouri Valley Conference loss, 12th of the season, in league basketball action Wednesday night at the Hammons Center.

The Redbirds (1-12, 0-5) shot 31 percent from the field and were out-rebounded 41-31, 17 of which were offensive boards for the Bears.

Illinois State was held without a field goal until the 11:42 mark of the first half, when Guidry connected for a 3-point basket. With SMS up 9-5, the lead continued to weigh on the home side after Kellen Easley hit a trey and jumper. Up by 11 with 4:39 to play before the break, foul trouble loomed for the 'Birds, and free throws were the difference. Five free throws in the final four minutes of the half helped SMS to a 13-point halftime lead, 28-15.

Illinois State never pulled to within 10 points in the second half. A foul on Marcus Arnold and Rebert Harris in the first two minutes of play put Terrance McGee at the line. He hit both free throws and SMS remained on top, 30-19, with 17:31 on the clock.

[to top of second column in this article]

The closest the Redbirds got in the final minutes was within 12 with 3:52 to play after a made free throw by Gregg Alexander. Tamarr Maclin made sure the 'Birds got no closer than that, however, hitting two free throws of his own 20 seconds later. SMS didn't hit a field goal from the 7:36 mark on but was 10-of-14 at the free-throw line through those final minutes till the buzzer.

SMS improves to 7-6, 4-1 in the Valley, and was led by 15 points from McGee, who also pulled down nine boards. Easley also contributed 14 points, while Maclin had seven rebounds.

Wichita State is Illinois State's next opponent. The Shockers come to town for a 2:05 p.m. meeting at Redbird Arena on Saturday.

[Erica Fricke, assistant director of media relations, Illinois State University]

Redbirds add Missouri transfer Echols

[JAN. 16, 2003]  NORMAL -- Illinois State men's basketball coach Tom Richardson continued to solidify the future of the program with the addition Wednesday of Najeeb Echols, a 6-7, 230-pound transfer from Missouri.

Echols, a native of Chicago, will have to sit out a year to meet NCAA transfer rules and will be eligible to play for the Redbirds on Dec. 13, 2003. He will begin practicing with the team on Thursday.

"Obviously we are elated to add a player of Najeeb's ability and talent," Richardson said. "He is a physical, athletic player and will help us become a more physical team. He is extremely versatile and can play any position on the floor."

Echols played in 10 games for the Tigers this season and averaged 3.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest. Last year, as a freshman, he averaged 2.5 points and 2.6 boards in 32 games.

As a prep, Echols finished his career at Morgan Park High School but never played in a game. As a teammate of current Redbird Marcus Arnold, Echols missed his entire senior season with a knee injury. Prior to his senior year Echols was ranked by most recruiting services among the nation's top 30 seniors.

[to top of second column in this article]

Echols played his first three years of high school at Chicago Whitney Young. As a junior, Echols averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists per game. He was also instrumental in Whitney Young winning the Class A state championship during his freshman season. He was also a regular feature on the Fox Sports television show "Preps," which focused on the lives of several Chicago basketball standouts.

Echols, who was initially recruited by Michigan State, Illinois, UCLA, Kansas, Iowa and DePaul, won't be the only transfer on the Redbird team next year. Neil Plank, who transferred from Wisconsin, is currently sitting out this season and practicing with the squad.

[Illinois State University news release]

[JAN. 16, 2003]  It wasn't the prettiest game you'll ever see, but we don't imagine very many Hawk fans could care less this morning, as their quintet bested Illinois 67-61 in Iowa City last night. Brian Cook recorded yet another double-double, going off for 20 points and 12 rebounds, but he went cold in the second half when made shots might have positioned the Illini for the win.

Illinois actually held their own on the boards but were outscored by 11 points from the charity stripe, and that proved too much to overcome.

Jeff Horner led the way for the Hawks with 16 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals, and he may have parked some cars during the pre-game!

Even though the Illini held Iowa to 42 percent shooting, they were able to muster only 40 percent shooting themselves, including a dismal 21 percent from 3-point range. The Illini also turned the ball over 17 times in a game where they appeared sluggish throughout.

Now they go on the road to face Indiana on Saturday afternoon.

[LDN]

[Photos by Tom Seggelke]

Articles from the past week

By Jeff Mayfield

[JAN. 13, 2003]  It was basketball alumni day for the Illinois basketball program Saturday in the Assembly Hall. And if you didn't know any better, once the game started you would've sworn that the Illini were playing a brand of basketball that was more like that seen in the '70s and '80s.

What's up with that? Well, do you remember life before the 3-point line? That's the way much of this game played out, even though the Illini eventually hit eight 3-pointers to seal and slug out a 69-63 victory over a Wisconsin team they shared the conference title with a year ago.

Not only that, but the first half didn't exactly give you a great deal of confidence heading into the second half. In fact, Greg Taylor, who was seated on press row, said he had a real bad feeling about the second half. While sitting there he must've slipped me some of his famous Cubs Kool-aid, because I felt we had weathered the storm (where did that overwhelming sense of optimism come from?). Luckily, I was right for once.

Illinois came out of the locker room like a team possessed. Bucky Badger must've forgotten all about Cook, who sat most of the first half on the bench mired with two fouls. But somebody should've told Bucky that Cook would STILL probably start and play a little bit in the second half. Apparently, Bucky never got that message through to the troops, and Cook opened up the second half scoring with a wide-open dunk! James Augustine continued his phenomenal game by scoring a deuce and marksman Sean Harrington nailed a 3, and for all intents and purposes the Illini were 2-0!

[Photo by Tom Seggelke]

According to the LDN's stats, Cook blew up for 24 second-half points and seven rebounds and totally dominated the final 20 minutes. But had it not been for Augustine's huge first half, Cook's performance might well have been for naught! Augustine erupted himself by scoring 13 first-half points, including an important 3 from the corner as the half was winding down. So, with Cook on the bench for over 10 minutes the Illini STILL held a 36-30 lead at intermission.

Then Illinois REALLY got busy. In addition to the before-mentioned second-half offensive barrage, the Illini's defense stiffened as well, not allowing a field goal for the first 9:30 of the frame.

Wisconsin's big star, Kirk Penney, finally did wake up late in the game as he hit some big shots, including two 3-pointers, to pull the Badgers close… but, not close enough. Penney did finish with a double-double, going for 18 points and 12 rebounds as he helped Wisconsin win the rebounding wars 31-29.

But Illinois held The Cheesers to 35 percent shooting over the final 20 minutes after they went for 60 percent in the first half. The Illini also out-assisted them 18-8, and both teams had a hand in 10 turnovers each.

A sold-out Assembly Hall crowd of 16,500 roared their approval for all the former Illini stars as well as the critical victory over the Badgers. However, once school is back in session, many of the rowdiest, best fans will be back to assist the Illini even more!

Things REALLY toughen up for Illinois next as they travel to Iowa on Wednesday and to Indiana on Saturday!

[to top of second column in this article]

Railers tough, too

Speaking of tough, how 'bout those Railers? Going into the hostile environment of Lanphier's home court, not many gave Lincoln much of a chance over Richard McBride and the Lions. But, the Railers took the fight to Lanphier all night long and came away with another hard-fought victory. The Railers now find themselves at 15-2 and IF they can take care of business at home, should be in the driver's seat to upset Lanphier AND Southeast to win yet another CS8 title!

Hats off to Derek Schrader for his outstanding game Friday night and to Ryne Komnick for his stellar play over the last three or four games.

Next up is the shootout versus Pekin at the PCCC.

Last week the Monday night sports showcase hosted some Lady Railers along with our Railer seniors of the week. Brittany Ingram and Jennifer Whalen did an outstanding job representing their school, their team and their program. These girls have really turned their season around over the holidays, and more exciting times are sure to follow!

According to the Charlie Essig report, the Railers are ranked No. 14 in the state, and that was before they pummeled Lanphier. Southeast is 31, with Lanphier ranked at 76. All other CS8 teams were beyond 132. In the City/Suburban Hoops report, Southeast was listed 11 with Lincoln 20. Peoria Central is ranked No. 1. As for players, Richard McBride is ranked No. 2 to Proviso-East's Shannon Brown. But this interesting little piece surfaced on Lincoln's Chris Bunch:

Little men -- big impact: Bunch is a jet-quick point guard. Runs the show despite his diminutive 5'9" size. He is a defensive whiz with excellent vision in the open court and in half-court sets.

Hartem put a bump in Mount Pulaski's roll by taking out the Hilltoppers 52-37 this past weekend. Always rivals, according to several sources this was the first win for Hartem over their nearby foes in quite some time. The win takes Hartem to 7-5 and 3-1 in league play.

We were right when we said that wild-card teams haven't fared all that well. According to the stats, wild-card teams were 9-39 coming into this year's playoffs. So all the smack talk from last week went for naught, and most of those teams, including the ones who made great comebacks, all went down this week. Every home team won. No predictions for next week, but I'd sure like to see boyhood favorites in the big game!

The LDN has just learned that Lincoln's Brian Cook has picked up another Big Ten Player of the Week award! Cook went for 25 against Minnesota and a career-high 31 versus Wisconsin in leading Illinois to a 2-0 first-place week! Nice going, Brian! [See the Big Ten announcement here.]

...Tonight at 6, right here on the LDN link and on CITV and FIX-96.3 FM.

[Jeff Mayfield]

• Last week: "Lincoln Railers splittin' the competition"
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