The Illinois basketball team welcomed in Mississippi Valley State University on Sunday and sent them home with a big loss.
Illinois didn’t start well in this game. They were struggling for the first part of the first half. Through the first five minutes, MVSU was hanging with the Illini. They were only down 14-12. They continued to hang tough and even tied the game at 22-22 with 10 minutes to go in the first half.
At that point, Illinois ended up flipping a switch and scoring at-will. With five minutes to go in the first half, the Illini took a six-point lead. Illinois then hit their first double-digit lead 39-29 with 1:57 to go in the first half. The Illini continued to score and went into the halftime locker room with a lead of 45-29.
Illinois started the second half well. They kept a solid lead throughout much of the second half and hit their first 20-point lead with 8:52 to go in the game. The Illini didn’t let MVSU get back in the game and finished with an 86-67 victory.
This was a good win for the Illini. They needed to get back on the winning track. Their next game is another big one against Notre Dame on Tuesday.
Here are five observations from the Illini win over MVSU.