Illinois Basketball: 5 takeaways from the Illini loss to Minnesota

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JANUARY 03: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood yells during the Big Ten regular season game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Minnesota Golden Gophers on January 3, 2018 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Gophers defeated the Illini 77-67. (Photo by David Berding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

1. Illinois needs to finish Big Ten play strong

The loss last night to the Minnesota Golden Gophers wasn’t a surprise but it does hurt the chances of the Illini dancing come March.

Illinois now has a 10-6 record overall and a 0-3 record in Big Ten play. The 20-win mark is usually the standard as far as at least being on the NCAA tournament bubble. That means Illinois needs to go 10-5 to finish Big Ten Conference play. But, do they have 10 wins in them the rest of the way out?

I will give it to the Illini they are in every game they play. This gives me confidence they can win some games they are not supposed to win.

The next game will be tough. It is at Michigan and they are a solid program right now. Illinois will probably drop that game. Here are the rest of the games I have them losing; Michigan State, at Ohio State, at Michigan State and Purdue. That is the list of games that total up to five more losses.

I think Illinois should beat Iowa, at Nebraska, at Wisconsin, Indiana, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Penn State, at Indiana, Nebraska and at Rutgers. Those are all very winnable games. And, if somehow the Illini can beat Michigan State once this season, that would go a long way in making the NCAA tournament.

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