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Illinois Basketball: 4 keys for the Illini to beat the Chicago State Cougars

By Rees Woodcock

Nov 25, 2020; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood adjusts his mask as he directs his team during the first half against the North Carolina A&T Aggies at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 25, 2020; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood adjusts his mask as he directs his team during the first half against the North Carolina A&T Aggies at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Illinois basketball
Nov 25, 2020; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Andre Curbelo (5) goes up for a shot during the second half against the North Carolina A&T Aggies at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /

The Illinois basketball team is on to the second leg of the multi-team event being held in Champaign.

Chicago State is next up on the Illini schedule. The Cougars are coming off an 84-61 loss to Ohio in their first game of the season. Despite a huge win by Illinois and a bad loss by Chicago State, you always have to take teams seriously. Illinois needs to stay focused.

Here are four keys for the Illini to beat the Chicago State Cougars.

1. Keep the defensive pressure

Illinois has only played one game this season, but they looked sensational defensively in that contest. North Carolina A&T couldn’t keep up with the Orange and Blue in every facet of the game.

I was impressed with the Illinois defense and thought it may take a slight dip in 2020-21 because of so many new bodies. That wasn’t the case at all. The Illini were maybe even more smothering than usual. The newcomers were a large part of the great defensive effort too.

Illinois can take down Chicago State on Thursday if they can keep up this great defensive pressure. The Illini only allowed the Aggies to shoot 34.4-percent from the field and just 26.3-percent from three-point range. There won’t be a team in the nation that beats us with those numbers.

In addition to holding North Carolina A&T to a horrible shooting day, the Illini also managed to force 12 turnovers against the Aggies.

Now let’s take a look at how Chicago State fared in their first game of the multi-team event being held in Champaign.

The Cougars only shot 35.1-percent from the field and 20-percent from three-point range against Ohio in an 84-61 loss. Chicago State also surrendered 14 turnovers on the day. This was not a good outing against a mid-level MAC program.

If Illinois can defensively play the Cougars like they played the Aggies, then this game on Thursday could be just as big of a blowout as the game on Wednesday. I fully expect Chicago State to score fewer than 60 points.

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