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Illinois Basketball: Illini 2019-2020 game-by-game predictions

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 11: A basketball rolls off the court during a timeout in the Big Ten Conference game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 11, 2017, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 11: A basketball rolls off the court during a timeout in the Big Ten Conference game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 11, 2017, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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CHICAGO, IL – MARCH 13: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood talks with players in a timeout during a Big Ten Tournament game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini on March 13, 2019, at the United Center in Chicago, IL. (Photo by Patrick Gorski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Illinois basketball team tips off their 2019-2020 campaign on Tuesday night against Nicholls State.

This is a nice warmup game for the Orange and Blue as they start a season in which many people expect them to turn the tides of recent winning woes. Illinois doesn’t need to come out of the gates and win this game against Nicholls State by 40 points. This game is more about gelling and working together as a team.

One of the biggest issues I have had with the Illini the past, roughly, decade is team chemistry. I feel like we have had teams that had enough talent to get to the Big Dance, but they fall just short most of the time. Those teams that had the talent but couldn’t put enough wins together just didn’t have a lot of team chemistry.

The first couple of years under Brad Underwood have been that way too. He came into the program that had some new talent, but that didn’t work out. He and his coaching staff have done a great job replenishing and getting better talent in the doors. Everything is starting to come together to form a great team. I believe that great team will be seen this season

Here are the Illini game-by-game schedule predictions for the 2019-2020 season.

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