Illinois Basketball: Preview of games 11-15 for the Illini

After three straight losses to tough teams and a hard-fought win over what was supposed to be a cupcake opponent, the Illinois basketball team enters a phase that sees a possibility of five straight wins before conference play begins again.

Big Ten Conference play begins January 3 featuring the Illini against Minnesota for a showdown in the Barn with an outstanding Golden Gophers team.  Three short days later, they head to Michigan to face the Wolverines, who are looking tough as well.

Facing that kind of challenge in conference play first thing in January provides some incentive for the Illini to take care of business the rest of this month. Those two Big Ten “roadies” ain’t gonna be easy. Better bolster the win column now.

Moreover, the Illini really need a perfect finish to the year after losing three straight games against Wake Forest, Northwestern, and Maryland.  So far they have no “bad losses” but equally as important, they haven’t notched a good win.

There isn’t much I can say that hasn’t been said about all three of the Illini’s loses. One can only hope the Illini learned the very valuable lessons that those games instructed: Fight like hell every minute of the game; don’t play hero ball; and take care of the rock, especially in the last few minutes of a tight contest.

Here is a preview of the upcoming Illini games.