Writing Illini
Fansided

Illinois Basketball: 5 areas of improvement for the Illini

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 30: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Illinois Fighting Illini is seen before the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at State Farm Center on January 30, 2018 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 30: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Illinois Fighting Illini is seen before the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at State Farm Center on January 30, 2018 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 6
Next
Illinois basketball
CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 30: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Illinois Fighting Illini is seen before the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at State Farm Center on January 30, 2018 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

The Illinois basketball team didn’t have the season many fans expected last year.

Illinois started their 2017-2018 campaign off with a 6-0 record but quickly came back down to Earth losing their next three with two of the three being overtime losses. The team went back and forth with winning and losing the rest of the way out to finish their non-conference schedule at 10-3 and already 0-2 in the Big Ten.

The real start of the Big Ten slate was rough, though. Illinois dropped their first six regularly scheduled conference games until they rattled off two in a row to bring their record to 12-11. By this point, the season had been all but over as far as a postseason berth is concerned. The Illini then went 2-6 the rest of the way out to finish the regular season with a 14-17 record overall and a 4-14 Big Ten record. Illinois also dropped the first game of the Big Ten Tournament to Iowa as well.

That was last season in a nutshell for the Illinois basketball team. There were some bright spots for the team, but most of the time things were pretty ugly. I do expect improvement this upcoming season, though. To get back to the NCAA tournament, the Illini need to do a few things better this year.

Here are five areas of improvement for the Illini.

Home/Illinois Basketball