Women's basketball Game 1 preview: Detroit Mercy at No. 23 Illinois, 6 p.m., Wednesday
- Story byThe News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
- Women's basketball Game 1 preview: Detroit Mercy at No. 23 Illinois, 6 p.m., Wednesday
Nov. 4—Lineups
No. 23 Illinois (0-0)
Starters
P NAME YR. HT. PPG HOMETOWN
G Destiny Jackson So. 5-6 9.9 Chicago
G Jasmine Brown-Hagger Sr. 5-9 6.7 Shorewood
G Gretchen Dolan Sr. 5-11 12.9 Buffalo, N.Y.
F Berry Wallace Jr. 6-1 18.4 Pickerington, Ohio
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F Cearah Parchment So. 6-3 13.6 Whitby, Ontario
FYI: Dolan scored the first seven points for the Illini in their 88-44 victory last Friday in an exhibition game against Illinois-Springfield with the senior guard hitting a pair of free throws before knocking down a three-pointer and adding a layup. Dolan made the first four shots she attempted from the field but cooled off in finishing 4 of 10 from the floor en route to scoring 14 points while also supplying four rebounds in 22 minutes played.
Off the bench
P NAME YR. HT. PPG HOMETOWN
G Maddie Webber Sr. 6-0 10.8 Bridgeville, Pa.
F Manuella Alves So. 6-3 0.0 Rio de Janeiro
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G Aaliyah Guyton Jr. 5-7 6.3 Peoria
Note: Scoring averages from the 2025-26 season, which Alves missed due to injury.
Detroit Mercy (1-0)
Starters
P NAME YR. HT. PPG HOMETOWN
G Maya Anderson Jr. 5-8 1.0 Detroit
G Paula Lopez Sr. 5-7 15.0 Alicante, Spain
G/F Makayla Jackson Sr. 5-9 12.0 Alexandria, Va.
G/F Stephanie Utomi Jr. 5-11 21.0 Detroit
F Naïma Diawara So. 6-1 9.0 Montreal
FYI: Utomi, a Mercer transfer, and Lopez, a Buffalo transfer, accounted for 36 of the Titans' 94 points as they made their debut for Detroit Mercy on Monday during a 94-30 season-opening victory at home against NAIA school Michigan-Dearborn. The 64-point margin of victory was the third largest in school history as the Titans benefited from 48 turnovers from their opponent.
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Off the bench
P NAME YR. HT. PPG HOMETOWN
G/F Marie Outlay Sr. 5-9 3.0 Sun Prairie, Wis.
C Addisen Mastriano Jr. 6-2 3.0 Richmond, Ind.
G/F Stacy Utomi So. 5-10 8.0 Detroit
Note: Scoring averages through one game of the 2026-27 season.
Details
Site: State Farm Center (15,544); Champaign.
Radio: Mike Koon (play-by-play) and former Illini Kendall Bostic
(analysis) will have the call on WDWS 1400-AM and WDWS 93.9-FM.
Streaming: BTN Plus
Series: Illinois leads series 2-1.
Last meeting: Illinois won 73-65 on Dec. 10, 2017, in Champaign.
FYI: The Illini also began the 2023-24 season at No. 23 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll. That team lost five of its opening 10 games with Illinois starting off with an 81-61 victory against Morehead State before losing in its next game, a 71-67 defeat at Marquette. The Illini also lost to Notre Dame, Michigan, Missouri and Arkansas during that stretch.
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Beat writer Joe Vozzelli's storylines
More intensity, discipline on the defensive end
Illinois coach Shauna Green was quick to point out after her team's exhibition win this past Friday night against UIS that she wasn't completely happy about the way her Illini played defense in that game. That Illinois got beat back door for eight points on easy layups was top of mind for Green afterward. It's a point the Illinois coach reiterated on Tuesday as Green looked ahead to Wednesday night's tipoff of the regular season against Detroit Mercy.
"Just defensively we need to be more intense, more disciplined for longer stretches," Green said. "And to be even more detailed in that, it's about our close-outs. We're going away from what we do, and now, we're getting beat off the bounce, and now, we're in rotation. And that's not what we want. When we're at our best, we're doing better at guarding the ball. If you want to get super technical, it's our close-outs and it's our just pure principled defense is what I want to see us get better at."
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Too many empty offensive possessions in exhibition
Green also saw how her Illini team got sped up at the offensive end in its lone exhibition game. It wasn't so much what the Prairie Stars did. But rather that Illinois didn't run offense the way Green would have liked. That led to some inconsistencies. Particularly in the second half when the Illini scored just 34 points.
"I want us to be sharper in running our offense," Green said. "I thought we got playing really fast and we were kind of out of control. I want to be able to play fast but under control too and making good decisions. We went empty too many possessions in a row. We have to clean that up."
Confident Illini 'just can't wait' for season opener
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Green has admitted to a learning process with this team. A lot of that relates to managing the added depth Illinois projects to have this season. But the fact the Illini do have 99.3 percent of their scoring back from last season's 22-win NCAA tournament team has Illinois in a more confident place. That's played out so far through summer workouts and into preseason practices as well as during the Illini's scrimmage with No. 14 Kentucky and exhibition game.
"I just learned basically what I already knew that we're just so together to the point where it's going to be really hard to stop us this year," Illinois guard Destiny Jackson said of her key takeaways from the exhibition win. "Just because of how much chemistry we have grown with playing together. I just can't wait. We're just a really tight-knit group. Just on the court building that trust, (we're) always having constant talks with what we could be doing better, what we are doing better and just constantly improving on things."
The News-Gazette's pick
No. 23 Illinois 91, Detroit Mercy 55
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There's a reason the Titans were picked to finish ninth in the Horizon League after posting a 7-24 record last season. Whether Detroit Mercy shows some improvement this season really doesn't matter to Shauna Green and Co. These early-season games are all about the Illini as they look to establish rotations and further define roles when the competition level steps up significantly during Big Ten play. (News-Gazette exhibition prediction record: 1-0)
