After two-straight losses, the Illinois basketball team is looking to rebound in a big way against the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Illinois took the first game of the series earlier this year, beating Penn State 98-81. But, like every Big Ten game, Tuesday night should be a dogfight. The Illini have to be on their A-game if they want to start winning again.
Here are four keys for the Illini to beat Penn State 2.0.
1. Get the bench going
Bench play is important for any team in the nation, but this year it seems that the Illinois bench is more important than ever.
Illinois is currently on a two-game skid where their bench hasn’t been carrying enough of the load. There are multiple factors to the bench play being down, but as a collective, they have been struggling. In the Ohio State loss this past weekend, the Illini bench only scored 19 points on the night.
In the game before the Buckeyes, the loss to Maryland, Illinois’ bench reared its ugly head again. The Terrapins held the Illini bench to just 10 points on 5-of-17 shooting from the field in the game.
The last two losses for Illinois are complete contrasts to the first matchup against Penn State this season. The Illini bench came out in the 98-81 victory over the Nittany Lions and scored 30 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field. This was a solid game from top to bottom.
Illinois can’t lose three games in a row, especially if one is against Penn State. That would be unacceptable. A way to make sure the Illini come out on top against the Nittany Lions is to get the bench going. The more they are involved in the game, the better chance we have at plowing through the rest of the Big Ten schedule.