Illinois State: ‘We know we have a tough task, but we’re not conceding’ NCAA first-round game at Iowa

IOWA CITY — You’ve heard of Coachspeak, that trail of worn-out cliches you hear throughout a season, every season.

There’s also Coachvoice, which reaches its climax in March.

Raspy, hoarse, gravelly ... that’s Coachvoice. And Kristen Gillespie had a bad case of it in a phone conversation Monday afternoon.

“Sorry if I’m hard to understand,” the Illinois State women’s basketball coach said. “My voice took a beating (Sunday).”

There was plenty to holler about.

Illinois State held Northern Iowa scoreless through the final five-plus minutes, tallied the final eight points and earned the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship, 50-48, at Moline, Ill.

The Redbirds (19-13) took the lead for good on a bucket by Juliunn Redmond with 1:52 left.

“Our defense was unbelievable,” Gillespie said. “Each game (in the MVC tournament), it got better, even when you thought it couldn’t get any better. The kids had such a belief.”

Seeded fourth in the MVC tournament, Illinois State beat Loyola Chicago, 68-52, in the quarterfinals, then upset regular-season champion Southern Illinois, 50-42, in the semifinals.

With the tournament championship came an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, Illinois State’s first since 2008. The Redbirds drew a 15 seed and earned a trip to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a first-round encounter with eighth-ranked, 2-seed Iowa (23-7).

Tipoff is 3 p.m. Friday.

“First off, it was so exciting to see our name pop up,” said redshirt junior Mary Crompton, a former Iowa City Regina all-stater and the Redbirds’ 3-point specialist. “Then to see we were going to Iowa City ... going to Iowa games all of my life, I’ve been in that arena a lot.”

Crompton grew up idolizing local Hawkeyes like Jaime (Printy) Brandt and Ally Disterhoft, both of whom she banters with via text and social media.

“They’ve both given me a lot of advice through the years,” she said.

Said Gillespie, in her fifth season at Illinois State: “Mary was ecstatic when she saw we were going to Iowa City. She probably knows every player that ever played there.”

After the Redbirds sealed their win Sunday, they celebrated on site for about an hour, got on the bus and returned to their campus at Normal, Ill., about 20 minutes before the NCAA selection show began on ESPN.

“I just told the players to enjoy it, to soak it all in,” Gillespie said. “A couple of hours wasn’t going to hurt anything. Then we got to work on Iowa (Monday) morning.”

Here’s what you’ll see from Illinois State: Man-to-man defense.

“It’s all ‘man,’ all the time,” Gillespie said. “That’s who we are.”

The Redbirds allow 62.8 points per game. They’ll face a stiff challenge from the Hawkeyes, who score at an 84.5-point rate, best in the nation.

One of the frontrunners for National Player of the Year, sophomore guard Caitlin Clark leads the country in scoring (27.4 points per game) and assists (7.9 per game).

Senior post Monika Czinano adds 21.1 points per contest and is the nation’s most accurate field-goal shooter (67.8 percent).

“We’re going to have our hands full,” Gillespie said. “We’ve got to find a way to guard Czinano. We haven’t seen a post like her. And everybody knows what Caitlin does for them.”

Crompton played AAU ball with Clark for All-Iowa Attack.

“I don’t think she’ll be my guard in the starting matchup,” said Crompton, who has nearly half of Illinois State’s 3-pointers, with 71. “Caitlin and Monika are going to be a tough combination. They’re both talented players, and that’s a great team. We’re excited for the opportunity.”

Illinois State will be playing in front of a near-sellout (a UI ticket-office spokesperson said that nearly 13,000 tickets had been sold as of Monday afternoon) and a national television audience (on ESPN).

“Everybody’s really excited about seeing the Redbirds, right?” Gillespie said. “We’re usually on ESPN3 or ESPNU.”

According to the statistical website fivethirtyeight.com, the Redbirds have about a 2-percent chance to upset the Hawkeyes.

“We know we have a tough task. But we’re not conceding; we’re preparing for this game with the intention of winning,” Gillespie said.

“Either way, this is a great opportunity to showcase our players. Not long ago, we were the worst team in The Valley. To get this program to where it needs to be, to get to play in the national spotlight for two hours Friday, it’s every kid’s dream.”

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