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Illinois Basketball: 3 ways the Illini can take down Michigan State

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - FEBRUARY 07: Members of the Illinois Fighting Illini huddle during the game against the Maryland Terrapins at State Farm Center on February 7, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - FEBRUARY 07: Members of the Illinois Fighting Illini huddle during the game against the Maryland Terrapins at State Farm Center on February 7, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 11: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Trent Frazier (1) shoots the ball over Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Ron Harper Jr.  (24) during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 11, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 11: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Trent Frazier (1) shoots the ball over Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Ron Harper Jr.  (24) during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 11, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

2. Our shooting has to improve

I have pointed out the deficiencies with the team when Kofi Cockburn isn’t playing well. But he is human and will have bad games. That is when the team needs to pick him up. That didn’t happen in the last Michigan State game.

As mentioned in the previous slide, Kofi had a bad first game against the Spartans. He finished with 5 points and 9 rebounds. But his teammates didn’t do anything to help him along the way. They actually dug the hole even deeper.

Illinois only shot 29.3-percent from the field in round one of this fight. Their three-point shooting was even worse. The Illini only shot 10.7-percent – 3-of-28 – from the three-point arc. That is incredibly bad and needs to improve on Tuesday night. To add to the bad shooting, we were 60-percent from the free throw line in the first game too.

But let’s be honest with ourselves here. Illinois hasn’t been shooting the ball well, period. In the last game against Maryland, which was a loss 75-66, Illinois shot 36.1-percent from the field, 36.4-percent from three-point land and 58.3-percent from the charity stripe. Let’s go back to the loss against Iowa. We were a little better but Iowa still out-shot us. The Illini were 41.4-percent from the field and 36.4-percent from three-point range.

It is pretty simple; to win the game you have to score more points. Illinois needs to shoot better to be able to beat Michigan State. That would require shooting better than 10.7-percent from behind the arc.

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