Illinois Basketball: Second half struggles doomed the Illini against Arizona

The Arizona Wildcats put the Illinois basketball team away with a second half surge on Sunday night.

The Illini were step-for-step with the Wildcats in the first half. These two teams looked destined to finish an early-season thriller. Brad Underwood and crew were feeling good going into the half only down one.

Then the second half came.

Illinois really played with two different teams. Please, let the second half team never show up again. The Illini had turnover after turnover after turnover. It really got old watching us not take care of the ball. Yes, Kofi Cockburn is a HUGE body inside, but we were forcing so many passes to him that simply weren’t there.

On Sunday, when Kofi came out, we had totally lost control of that game. It was encouraging to see Ayo Dosunmu go on a nice little run by himself, though. If Illinois can keep having productivity from him, this team will be great.

The biggest problem for the Illini against Arizona was, again, depth. Tevian Jones, please hurry back. Whatever the suspension is, Illini Nation needs your long athletic body. Da’Monte Williams and Kipper Nichols look lost out there. When the two come in, we aren’t able to score the ball.

Another key part of Sunday night was our zone defense. Arizona is a very solid team that has enough talent to keep up with anyone in the nation. The zone was allowing them to get as many open threes as they could and Nico Mannion, Josh Green, and Max Hazzard took advantage. At times the Illini looked lost on defense.

The positives; yes, there were some.

Andres Feliz is good. He is proving why he’s still starting on this team. The senior guard is rebounding like crazy, which is surprising given his height, and man does the guy hustle. Trent Frazier was also hitting shots, which was huge. Kofi was good, but it was his worst game so far. He had a solid game and should be able to have great games coming up against smaller, less athletic opponents.

Really, though, it’s still early. This team has potential. Alan Griffin is a great sub off the bench. The starters are good. We have signs of being a tournament team. We must fix our turnovers and our depth. Good teams have depth, and this is going to be a key for this team.

Illinois has a week to think about this loss and get at it. The Illini will be back in action against Hawaii next. Remember Illini fans, it’s still early! There is still a lot of time to get those tournament resume wins.