Illini draw on past experience ahead of showdown with Vanderbilt
Mar. 23—NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Shauna Green had a conversation with her Illinois women's basketball team in the locker room after last month's 82-78 loss at Iowa.
A postgame talk from the fourth-year Illini coach that now seems prescient with what Illinois will try to do on Monday night. Green made clear to her team that if the Illini were going to advance to a Sweet 16 of an NCAA tournament, it would take beating a team as good as the Hawkeyes on their home floor. Nearly a month later, and that's the task before seventh-seeded Illinois (22-11), which will face No.
2 seed and host Vanderbilt (28-4) at 6 p. m. on Monday at Memorial Gymnasium in a second-round NCAA tournament game with the winner moving on to the Sweet 16.
Ironically enough, that same Iowa team the Illini lost to is also a No. 2 seed in March Madness. Just like the Commodores.
"And what better way to prepare you than one of the best places and toughest places to play in the country is at (Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa)," Green said. "We had multiple chances to win that game. The nice thing about the Big Ten is you have been in really hostile environments on the road, and the next step in our program and our evolution in a program is to host (the first and second rounds), right?
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