OMAHA, Neb. -- Illinois coach Brad Underwood has a connection to Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot.
Underwood served as an assistant coach under Bob Huggins at Kansas State in 2006 and 2007, and he later turned his coaching career into a major success at the mid-major Stephen F. Austin before taking Oklahoma State and Illinois to the NCAA Tournament.
Dambrot didn't coach under Huggins, but he considers Huggins a "good friend" throughout their collective tenures spent as college basketball head coaches. That brings to mind the nature of what 11th-seeded Duquesne and third-seeded Illinois will bring to the CHI Health Center floor at 8:40 p.m. Eastern Thursday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line in this NCAA Tournament.
Dambrot's Dukes were able to bring BYU to their game in the first round of the tournament on Thursday. The Dukes' defense limited a potent Cougars offense -- one which averaged 81.8 points per game -- to 67 points while holding them to 38.6% from the field. An offense that enjoys running in transition and popping 3-pointers was quelled to an 8-for-24 mark from deep, which enabled Duquesne to control the defensive glass and get into their halfcourt sets.
Illinois brings more potency, and Underwood understands Duquesne and Dambrot won't allow for them to get into their flow easily.
"They'll be disruptive. They like to run through passes. Good thing is, we don't pass a lot in terms of initiating offense, but again, they're athletic, handsy, they're physical," Underwood said Friday at the CHI Health Center. "They've got a propensity stat-wise to foul a lot, but they have six, seven frontcourt guys that they just all throw out there. Yeah, they want to drag you in the mud, so to speak. We've got to be ready for that."
BYU didn't record a field goal until the 13:37 mark of the first half Thursday. By that point, Duquesne held a 12-5 lead and later extended that margin to 17-7 before the Cougars finally found rhythm. Duquesne clamped down again to pull ahead to a 12-point lead in the first half and then found a 14-point margin with 16:53 left in the second half. Every time BYU clawed back, though, the Dukes were able to rally defensively.
BYU was held under 70 points this season eight times. It lost seven of those games. That recipe is how Duquesne earned this date with Illinois.
"We're certainly good enough to compete with them, and we're good enough to win the game if we do the things that we need to do to win," Dambrot said. "You know, I think we surprised BYU a little bit with our toughness. I think we surprised them with our defensive intensity. I don't think they played a game that low-scoring most of the year, and so hopefully we can surprise Illinois a little bit as well."
The element of surprise that BYU experienced is now on tape, so Dambrot will have to find some more creativity that can help disrupt one of the best offenses in the country. Illinois' 84.4 points per game ranks ninth in Division I, and they boast the nation's third-leading scorer in Terrence Shannon, Jr.
"Terrence Shannon is a big challenge. Reminds me of LeBron (James) in the open court," Dambrot said. "Thankfully not quite as good as LeBron, but pretty good. Back-down point guard, which is a little different nowadays. More isolation plays. Big guys are playing well. Pretty good shooting team. Obviously a high-scoring team. Similar type of game plan for us. We just can't allow the game to get up into the 90s and 80s (in points). We just have to grind it out."
Shannon scored 26 points by making 9 of 16 attempts from the field in Illinois' win over No. 14-seed Morehead State Thursday. The Fighting Illini, otherwise, primarily operated through their frontcourt with Dain Dainja (21 points on 9 of 9 shooting) and Coleman Hawkins (10 points, four rebounds, and five assists) while getting a 12-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double from swingman Marcus Domask.
According to data from KenPom, Illinois ranks second in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency with 126.1 points scored per 100 possessions. Illinois thrives on second-chance opportunities as one of the best offensive rebounding teams in college basketball, which goes hand-in-hand with their up-tempo style in transition.
"They want to get it by shooting a lot of 3s," Dukes guard Kareem Rozier said. "The difference between (Illinois and BYU is) Illinois likes to run, they like to get in transition. We have prepared ourselves for that transition offense. I think if we can stop them in transition we'll be in pretty good shape. Keeping the game in the low 60s, that's what we do."
Duquesne has held 21 opponents to below 70 points this season. It won 20 of those games. It has held opponents to below 60 points 12 times and won 10 of those games, including two of the four games in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Duquesne has won its last nine games entering Saturday's game against Illinois. Over that stretch, the Dukes have allowed 60.1 points per game.
"We've got to put our dukes up and guard. Keep them below 60," Dukes forward David Dixon said. "... Teams are going to throw their best punches when they're down, and in order to be successful, you have to take those punches and dish them back as well. It's happened to us plenty of times this season. In the A-10 Tournament we've taken punches. We've been down in games after being up by a lot. It's all about staying the course, keeping steady, don't let anything get you out of whack. If we do that and play the game we know how to play, we'll be fine."
Duquesne's physicality and aggression have the Illini on notice. It might not be unlike anything they have seen, but it certainly is a style that, if not properly accounted for, could get away from what Illinois wants to do.
"I think they're very aggressive, very handsy defensively," Illini forward Ty Rodgers said. "They bring that on-ball pressure. They're heavy in the gaps. An aggressive style defensively."
Said forward Luke Goode: "I think after watching film on Duquesne, they like to control the tempo. They do a good job of that with their two lead guards and their supporting cast. Something that we want to do is try and get out in transition. We've been doing that all year. I think speed up the tempo as much as possible, but this team isn't afraid to have a low-possession game, as well. There's been some times in the Big Ten where we've had to have low possession games, and if that's something we need to do to win, I think we're capable of doing that."
