Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini loss to Ohio State

2. Illinois is not good in the half court

Illinois is averaging 83.3 points per game this season, which is No. 15 in the nation. With that number being so high, you would think this is a high-powered offensive team.

That is not the case in the least bit. Honestly, it is painful to watch Illinois on the offensive end of the court at times. I believe we are a fun-and-gun team. They are below average in the half court, and it showed when Ohio State put the clamps down on the Illini throughout the game.

The current Illinois offense isn’t efficient at all. When they dribble down the court and start their half court offense, it tends to be a pass followed by the Illini player looking to the inside for Kofi Cockburn. If Kofi isn’t there, the ball is reversed to the other side to try to find Kofi.

After that, the ball is either forced into Kofi, or there is so little shot clock left where the ball is passed a couple more times and a bad shot is taken. That is the basics of what Illinois is doing on offense right now. It is maddening.

But, while the offense seems stagnant most of the time, there are glimmers of what should be happening. There isn’t enough guard driving in this Illinois offense. Ayo Dosunmu needs to be driving in the lane. This enables the defenders to collapse on him. The result of the collapsing is a wide-open Illinois player at the three-point arc. An example of this was in the waning moments of the Ohio State game. This exact play happened, and Adam Miller drained a big three-pointer.

I believe Illinois has the talent to be a top team in the nation. They just need to figure out how to play offense. You don’t have to look to Kofi every time down the court. Run some dang plays.