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Illinois Basketball: 3 weaknesses for the Illini against North Carolina A&T

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 30: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu (11) shoots a jump shot between Minnesota Golden Gophers center Daniel Oturu (25) and Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Michael Hurt (42) during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 30, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 30: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu (11) shoots a jump shot between Minnesota Golden Gophers center Daniel Oturu (25) and Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Michael Hurt (42) during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 30, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – MARCH 08: Trent Frazier #1 of the Illinois Fighting Illini reacts after a three point basket during the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at State Farm Center on March 8, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Wednesday marks the tipoff of the 2020-21 campaign for the Illinois basketball team.

The first game on the slate is against the North Carolina A&T Aggies. The Aggies finished last season with a 16-15 record overall but were 12-4 in the MEAC. But this is a new season. Illinois is projected to make a great run at the national title, but there are a few weaknesses that could be exposed along the way.

Here are three weaknesses for the Illini against North Carolina A&T.

1. Three-point shooting

There aren’t a ton of weaknesses for the Illinois basketball program, but one issue that the Orange and Blue could run into against North Carolina A&T would be three-point shooting.

In 2019-20, the best three-point shooter Illinois put on the floor was Alan Griffin, who is now with the Syracuse Orange. He shot 41.6-percent from the three-point range. Illinois, as a team, only had four players shoot over 30-percent from the three-point arc.

Among those four players who eclipsed the 30-percent accuracy mark, one was Tyler Underwood, who didn’t get much playing. Another one of those players was Giorgi Bezhanishvili, who didn’t shoot many three-pointers. The fourth player was actually a shooter in Trent Frazier.

That is how bad things were for Illinois last season when it came to three-point shooting. Thanks to Griffin balancing out the three-point shooting, the Illini ended up hitting 30.3-percent of their deep shots, which ranked No. 311 out of 353 teams in college basketball.

On top of Illinois struggling from three-point range last season, North Carolina A&T was one of the best three-point defensive teams. Opponents only shot 29.2-percent from the three-point arc against North Carolina A&T, which ranked No. 14 in the nation.

It might just be the first game of the season, but Illinois’ shooting from distance will be tested. We aren’t good at deep shooting, and they are excellent at perimeter defense.

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