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Illinois Basketball: Illini’s Bad Habits Re-Emerge Against Ohio State

By Rees Woodcock

Jan 28, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Jaylon Tate (1), guard Malcolm Hill (21), guard Jalen Coleman-Lands (5), guard Kendrick Nunn (25), and center Maverick Morgan (22) look on from the court against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the second half at State Farm Center. The Buckeyes won in overtime 68 to 63. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 28, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Jaylon Tate (1), guard Malcolm Hill (21), guard Jalen Coleman-Lands (5), guard Kendrick Nunn (25), and center Maverick Morgan (22) look on from the court against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the second half at State Farm Center. The Buckeyes won in overtime 68 to 63. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Illinois basketball team was competitive once again, but fell just short in overtime to the Ohio State Buckeyes.

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Illinois started the game as hot as can be with a 13-2 lead almost 7 minutes into the game.  That lead slowly dwindled and with less than 3 minutes left in the 1st half the Buckeyes took the lead.

Throughout the entire 2nd half the Illini were losing but would make mini runs.  They finally hit rock bottom when Ohio State made a shot to put Illinois down by 13 points with 6:34 left in the game.

Much like a lot of the other games this season, Illinois wasn’t done.

After a 3-pointer by Jalen Coleman-Lands and Kendrick Nunn going on a 5-0 run by himself, Illinois was back within 5 points with just 3:31 left in the game.

Illinois continued to fight and managed to tie the game up on a JCL 3-pointer with 58 seconds remaining.  The game would eventually go to overtime where Illinois would let it slip away down the stretch.

Let’s start off with the good first.

I loved the fight Illinois had coming back there at the end of the game.  This showed me that they have heart and this isn’t about the lack of effort.

In every single game this season, win or lose, you can tell how good these players are.  Some of them are going to be special and I can’t wait to see where their careers take them.

Jalen Coleman Lands reminds me a lot of former Illinois guard D.J. Richardson.  He has some great athletic ability and can shoot the three better than a lot of players in the country.  He is going to develop into one of the best shooters Illinois has ever had.

Another thing I noticed was particularly good was the lack of turnovers for Illinois.  They only turned the ball over 10 times the entire game.  This is a key to be able to win games.

Now that we are done with the good let’s take a look at the bad.

Illinois lost the game and are now 10-11 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten.  We are on pace for one of the worst seasons in the history of the program.  This isn’t good especially heading into a recruiting class in 2017 that is going to be key to the future success.

The Illini also reverted back to their old ways and got out rebounded 51-34.  There is now way that if a team has two guys that are almost seven-foot tall they should ever get outrebounded by that big of a margin.

I think the rebounding problem is a mixture of technique and physicality.  Finke and Morgan don’t know how to rebound in the Big Ten.

The final dig I have on Illinois is Malcolm Hill.  He had one of the worst games of his career and it was all topped off by a horrific play at the end of regulation.

Bad games happen and I understand that.  Shooting 3 of 14 from the field is awful, but those types of games happen every once in a while and it is the job of the coach and team to lift him up.  That did happen at times.

There are still too many situations that Illinois goes isolation for an offense.  That kills any type of team involvement and ball movement.

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This isn’t this NBA yet.   We can’t afford to have Hill going one-on-one that many times because, while Hill is a great shooter, he isn’t great at creating his own shots.  He needs the ball to move around the court so he can get a better looking shot.

That last play hurts me.  It makes me think if we could have come up with a better play then maybe we could have gotten a better look at the basket and ended this game in regulation.

But, what do all of these things have in common that I mentioned above?  I believe it is coaching.

Everything filters down to the coaching ability and development of players.

Am I saddened by this loss; tremendously.  Am I surprised about this loss; not the least bit.  Illinois basketball will rise again one day though.

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