Writing Illini
Fansided

Illinois Basketball: 5 eye-popping improvements for the Illini

By Rees Woodcock

Dec 2, 2020; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (15) and Illinois Fighting Illini guard Da'Monte Williams (20) celebrate a three point basket in the first half against the Baylor Bears at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 2, 2020; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (15) and Illinois Fighting Illini guard Da'Monte Williams (20) celebrate a three point basket in the first half against the Baylor Bears at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
Illinois basketball
Feb 2, 2020; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu (11) in action during the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Three-point percentage

For what seems to be about a decade now, the Illinois basketball team has been a below-average three-point shooting program. That has all changed this season, though.

  • Year-by-year comparison

The most successful years in Illinois basketball history have been when the team was solid at shooting the deep shots. An example would be the 2004-05 title run. The Illini were hitting the three-pointers at a clip of 39.2-percent.

But the Orange and Blue hit rock bottom last season when it came to three-point shooting. Illinois was only hitting 30.3-percent of their three-point shots in 2019-20, which ranked No. 311 in the nation.

To improve on that horrific number would be easy, but Illinois didn’t just improve, they have transformed into a completely different team. This season, the Illini are making 41.8-percent of their three-point shots, which is good enough for No. 7 in the nation. That is a 304-spot jump.

  • What has improved?

I believe overall talent has improved. Last season was ugly from the three-point arc, as the only player to receive more than five minutes per game and shoot over 31-percent was Alan Griffin. He is no longer on the team.

The improvement from top to bottom this season has been impressive. Ayo Dosunmu clearly worked his butt off this offseason to improve on his three-point shooting. He knows that the NBA is a three-point shooting league right now, so he had to get better.

Ayo went from shooting 29.6-percent from three-point range last season to shooting 42.1-percent from distance in 2020-21. That is an insane jump.

Ayo isn’t the only one who has improved this season. Trent Frazier shot an abysmal 30.9-percent from three-point range last season while taking about 30-percent of the entire team’s three-point shots for the year. That number is now sitting at 39.6-percent from three-point range this season.

And the final player I want to point out is Da’Monte Williams. The kid wasn’t trusted with the ball the last couple of seasons. Williams only shot 28.3-percent from three-point range last season but has increased that number to an astounding 67.9-percent for the 2020-21 campaign.

Home/Illinois Basketball