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Illinois Basketball: 5 takeaways from the Illini win over Rutgers

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 30: Rutgers Scarlet Knights Guard Corey Sanders (3) and Illinois Fighting Illini Guard Mark Alstork (24) get their arms tangled on their way up the court during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 30, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 30: Rutgers Scarlet Knights Guard Corey Sanders (3) and Illinois Fighting Illini Guard Mark Alstork (24) get their arms tangled on their way up the court during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 30, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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ANN ARBOR, MI – JANUARY 06: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Te’Jon Lucas (3) drives to the basket against Michigan Wolverines guard Zavier Simpson (3) during a regular season Big 10 Conference basketball game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Michigan Wolverines on January 6, 2018 at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MI – JANUARY 06: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Te’Jon Lucas (3) drives to the basket against Michigan Wolverines guard Zavier Simpson (3) during a regular season Big 10 Conference basketball game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Michigan Wolverines on January 6, 2018 at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

5. Ball movement was great which led to points

Here is a shocker for you. Illinois isn’t good at distributing the ball. They were, in fact, one of the most average teams in the nation when it comes to assists.

Heading into the Rutgers game on Tuesday night, Illinois averaged 13.6 assists per game which ranked No. 157 in the nation. Not moving the ball enough is one of the reasons why they have games where they don’t score a ton of points. Even in the Indiana win, Illinois only had 10 assists that game. That is a bad number.

The more ball movement usually tends to draw more assists because the ball finds the open man. That is what needs to happen more often. It actually did happen on Tuesday night, though.

Illinois didn’t have one player with a lot of assists, but they did have their great guard duo – Trent Frazier and Te’Jon Lucas – lead the way. They both had four assists on the night and this helped the Illini hit the 16 assist mark, which is above their average. They moved the ball well and continued to find the open man.

Next: Three paths to postseason play for the Illini

I can’t tell you how many times the ball swung around and found a player waiting to shoot it. It didn’t have to be a three-pointer either. They found each other on the outside and they dished it down low as well. This was a great game and ball movement helped tremendously.

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