Jan. 1 -- CHAMPAIGN -- Shauna Green spent plenty of time on Tuesday afternoon at State Farm Center asking for her Illinois women's basketball team to defend against Washington.
Pleading for it, in fact.
The Illini coach found herself talking to almost anyone who would listen.
The Illini players on the court, the bench and the Illinois coaching staff all heard from Green at different points of the Illini's 84-75 Big Ten loss to the Huskies with 4,272 fans on hand for a New Year's Eve home matinee.
Defense is something Illinois (11-3, 1-2 Big Ten) had depended upon through the first two months of the regular season.
But it was a liability against Washington (11-4, 2-1). Green made holding the Huskies to six or fewer made three-pointers a key for her Illini team.
Washington sank 11 three-pointers. Keeping the Huskies off the offensive glass was another point of emphasis. Washington had eight offensive rebounds and finished with 15 second-chance points.
"We didn't apply (scout to the game)," Illinois forward Kendall Bostic said. "We're perfectly capable of doing everything that we set in scout. We just didn't execute it on the court very well. It was just our ball-screen coverage. We were good in spurts, but we have to be able to sustain that for a full 40 (minutes), because players like (Washington's Sayvia) Sellers and some of the better guards we're going to play will usually take advantage of those slip-ups."
That disconnect between the two-day prep for the Huskies during practices at Ubben Basketball Complex and the game itself on Tuesday was one thing. But Green was also quick to credit Washington.
Sellers delivered a team-high 24 points, plus eight assists and four rebounds, as the Huskies shot 54.8 percent for the game and ended up 11 of 20 from behind the three-point arc.
"They're a really, really good team with two of the better guards that we'll face," Green said. "They're a hard guard with how they spread the floor, and we knew that coming in. ... We have to be better, and these guys know it, in our scout and our scout defense and just executing keys to the game, because when you get into conference play, the little details matter, and we did not do a good job of doing those little things. Washington made us pay. We have to clean that up. We have got to be better. We will be better because of it, and we move on and we continue to work."
That Illinois still found itself in a one-to-two possession game until the late stages came down to the fact Genesis Bryant carried the Illini for large stretches on Tuesday.
Bryant tied her career-high with 32 points, as the veteran guard played from the tip-off to the final buzzer. The full 40 minutes Bryant played against the Huskies saw the 5-foot-6 fifth-year senior make 11 of 20 shots from the field as she also made four of the five three-pointers by the Illini.
Bryant's layup with 5 minutes, 38 seconds left was part of last-gasp effort by Illinois, as it capped an 8-0 run that cut her team's deficit to 74-72.
"I'm just trying to do whatever we need to win," Bryant said. "So, if that's scoring one night or assisting, playing defense, whatever the case may be. ... I'm going into every game mentally just trying to score, trying to dominate so just taking what they give me."
The problem for the Illini is that Bryant -- and Bostic -- have had to do the majority of the production. That was again the case on Tuesday with Bostic scoring 17 points and grabbing six rebounds.
Jasmine Brown-Hagger fouling out with 4:21 left in the game was really the start of where Washington pulled away at the end for the nine-point win, with the Huskies outscoring Illinois 10-3 in the last four-plus minutes.
"I told our team, 'We can't just rely on Gen and K.B. every night to score 20 some points a game," Green said. The Illini played without experienced point guard Makira Cook for a fifth straight game, and sophomore guard Gretchen Dolan also joined Cook on the list of missing players for Illinois against the Huskies after Dolan returned for one just game from a left knee injury. Green didn't offer any specifics on Tuesday as far as timeline for when Cook and Dolan might return.
"We have to have everyone step up, whether that's even someone scoring eight points or six points," the Illinois coach continued. "Everyone has to raise their game up. The numbers are the numbers. We can sit here and feel sorry for ourselves or we can have everyone take advantage of an opportunity we're given, and that's where I'm telling them we have to take advantage of this. You may get a bigger opportunity that maybe you thought you would. Well, what are going to do with it?"