Illinois Basketball: 4 keys for the Illini to beat Ohio State
By Collin Allen
4. Get the offense back on track
The strength for the Illini to start the season was their red-hot offense. Through their first nine games of the season, the Orange and Blue were scoring an average of 89.3 points per contest. However, the Illini have struggled to get that sort of offensive production lately. Through their last four games, the Fighting Illini are only averaging 69.7 points per contest.
One possible cause of the decreasing offensive production could be due to the struggles the Illini have had taking care of the ball. Turnovers have been a huge problem for Illinois all season, as they average 13.5 giveaways per game, which ranks No. 158 in the nation.
Junior guard Ayo Dosunmu leads the team in this feat, averaging 3.2 turnovers per contest. Freshman guard Andre Curbelo also has a tendency to be careless with the ball, as he is second for the Illini in the turnover cabinet, committing 2.5 per game.
Their poor free throw shooting could also be another factor of the Illini’s lack of offensive production lately. The Orange and Blue have been bad from the stripe, especially during their last four games, as they are shooting an abominable 65.4-percent in those four contests. This includes an abysmal 40.9-percent from the stripe versus Purdue.
In order for this offense to get more points on the board, they will need to be much more careful with the basketball and drastically improve their free throw shooting. This will not be an easy game by any means, but if the Illini are able to complete all of these tasks, they should have no problem coming out with the bounce-back victory.
dark. Next. Projected Illini lineup with transfer Nimari Burnett
With a win over the Buckeyes, the Illini would improve to 10-4 on the season and 6-2 in the Big Ten. A win against this ranked Ohio State team would also give the Fighting Illini momentum going forward in a very tough conference schedule.