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Illinois Basketball: 3 observations from the Illini win over Northwestern

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 18: Illinois Fighting Illini forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (15) shoots a jump shot over Northwestern Wildcats forward Robbie Beran (31) during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 18, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 18: Illinois Fighting Illini forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (15) shoots a jump shot over Northwestern Wildcats forward Robbie Beran (31) during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 18, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 18: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu (11) gets into a defensive position during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 18, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 18: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu (11) gets into a defensive position during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 18, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

2. Sometimes you have nights like this

I would say this is one of the best defensive Illinois basketball teams that I have seen in a while. Our defense has contributed to so many wins this season.

Illinois is currently giving up 64.8 points per game, which ranks No. 65 in the nation. Considering there are 353 DI programs, that isn’t a bad stat. The 64.8 PPG the Illini are giving up this season is one of the best in years too. You have to go back to the 2014-2015 campaign to find the last time Illinois averaged better (63.6), but we didn’t have the offense we have today.

With that being said, we are going to have nights like Saturday night. Northwestern isn’t a juggernaut of a program on the offensive end of the court. They score 66.8 PPG, which ranks No. 262 in the nation. They were 6-10 coming into this game too. There was no reason this game should have been close.

But this is college basketball and, more importantly, the Big Ten. Nothing is certain in this conference. The Wildcats shot lights out against the Illini, and it wasn’t because Illinois was playing bad defense. They just hit their shots and that happens.

Northwestern scored 71 points, which is well above their average. They shot 45-percent from the field and 42.1-percent from three-point range. It seemed like they couldn’t miss all night. It was one of those games. But Illinois won the game. That is the important thing.

Illinois will have games like this. We are ranked and teams, especially rivals, are going to give us their best shot. So, we will have to keep on our toes. When teams play lights out, like Northwestern, we have to find a way to scrape together a victory. That happened on Saturday night. I am proud of this team.

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