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

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - MARCH 08: Trent Frazier #1 and Ayo Dosunmu #11 of the Illinois Fighting Illini celebrate during the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at State Farm Center on March 8, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - MARCH 08: Trent Frazier #1 and Ayo Dosunmu #11 of the Illinois Fighting Illini celebrate during the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at State Farm Center on March 8, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – JANUARY 21: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Da’Monte Williams (20) clinches his fists as he gets into a defensive position during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Purdue Boilermakers on January 21, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

We are inching closer to the start of the 2020-21 campaign for the Illinois basketball team.

The first game up on the road to the national title is against North Carolina A&T. The Aggies didn’t fare well in the matchup against the Illini last season, and the same should be said for the game on Wednesday. There are so many things this Illinois program does well but three things I think are their biggest strengths.

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

1. Rebounding the ball

It isn’t every day Illinois has a functional seven-foot big man. Last season, Kofi Cockburn was sensational pretty much the entire year, and Illinois fans are blessed to get him back for one more run.

A big part of Kofi’s presence in the Illini lineup was his rebounding. The big man led the way for the Orange and Blue with 8.8 rebounds per game. His size mixed in with great athletic ability are the keys to why Kofi was able to pull down so many rebounds.

This is one of the strengths coming into the game against North Carolina A&T. Thanks to Kofi, and some great guard rebounding, Illinois was able to pull down 39.4 rebounds per game in 2019-20. This was good enough to be ranked No. 21 in the nation in rebounds.

I don’t expect this number to slow down anytime soon either. Despite Illinois losing their second-leading rebounder in Andres Feliz, who averaged five rebounds per game, the Illini are still poised to pull down the boards with some great guard rebounding and Giorgi Bezhanishvili.

Illinois is getting matched up with an Aggies bunch that isn’t good at preventing the opposing team from pulling down rebounds. Last season, North Carolina A&T gave up 39.7 rebounds per game to their opponents. That was No. 342 out of 353 teams in college basketball.

The Illini are familiar with the Aggies as well. Last season, Illinois beat North Carolina A&T 95-64 and, in the process, the Illini pulled down 39 rebounds as a team. This time around, things shouldn’t be much different.

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