Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini win over Iowa

4. This was the best game we have played this season

Illinois has played some pretty solid games during the 2020-21 campaign. We took down Minnesota by nearly 30 points. When Duke was in the top 10, we went down to Cameron Indoor and beat them by 15 points.

While all of those are good wins, I would say the Illini beating Iowa on Friday night was the best game we have played this season.

Player-wise, we did have a couple of guys struggle. Adam Miller finished with zero points. Da’Monte Williams followed in his footsteps and did the same. But they realized their struggle and weren’t jacking up shots. The two combined to go 0-of-4 on the night. Not a good showing, but it also didn’t kill the team.

Illinois, as a team, shot 50-percent from the floor, which is about our season average. We shot 42.1-percent from three-point range, which is about 2-percent above our season average. And the big number in the shooting department was at the free throw line.

Coming into the night, Illinois was hitting their free throws at a clip of 69-percent, which ranked No. 218 in the nation. But, against Iowa, that all changed. The Illini shot an outstanding 82.4-percent from the charity stripe, going 14-of-17 on the night. This was a huge reason why we beat the Hawkeyes.

I was also impressed with how Illinois rebounded the ball. They pulled down 39 rebounds on the night compared to Iowa who just had 33 rebounds. Outrebounding a team that has Luka Garza is an impressive feat.

Overall, I was extremely impressed with how the Illini played. This was their most complete game of the season. If we can get this Illinois team the rest of the way out, then I think we could be bringing a trophy back to Champaign come April.