New, improved Illinois hosts No. 12 Iowa on Sunday

IOWA CITY — In the not-so-distant past, Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder had to harp on her team to “bring its own energy” when it visited Champaign, Ill.

It said a little about the atmosphere at the State Farm Center. And it said a lot about the state of the Illinois women’s basketball team.

She doesn’t know if the atmosphere has changed. She’s well aware that the Illini have.

New coach. Some new players. A whole new buzz.

“That’s a team that’s very dangerous, especially at their place,” Bluder said.

And thus, Bluder has a different project: Convince the Hawkeyes that this Illinois team doesn’t resemble its recent predecessors.

“They have the mentality of the old Illinois,” Bluder said. “This is a new Illinois.”

The new Illinois (12-2 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) already has its most wins in a season since 2014-15. The Illini welcome No. 12 Iowa (11-3, 3-0) for a 2 p.m. tip Sunday.

First-year Illinois coach Shauna Green has engineered an immediate U-turn to a program that hasn’t had a winning season in 10 years and hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament in 23.

Green is a Clinton native whose first head-coaching job was at Loras College (2005-07). She spent the last six years at Dayton, posting a 127-50 mark with four NCAA appearances.

The roster consists of four transfers, two of which came with Green from Dayton.

One of the former Flyers, Makira Cook teams with Adalie McKenzie and Genesis Bryant to form what Bluder called “the best (backcourt) trio in the conference.”

Illinois is coming off a 79-63 win at Wisconsin on Thursday.

“We’ve got to be better Sunday, I’ll tell you take much,” Green said postgame. “We want to play fast. We want to play free.”

Iowa has won six consecutive games, coming off an 83-68 home victory over Purdue.

Monika Czinano reached the 2,000-point plateau, one game after Caitlin Clark had done the same. McKenna Warnock (19 points) and Hannah Stuelke (first career double-double) played major roles.

“I’m happy for both McKenna and Hannah,” Bluder said. “If we get production out of those two, it helps tremendously.”

Sunday’s game is the first of two straight on the road; Iowa has a showdown with No. 14 Michigan on Saturday, then returns home for games with Northwestern and Penn State on Jan. 11 and Jan. 14.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com