Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini win over Wisconsin

4. Illinois needs to clean some things up

Let me first start off by saying how great the Illini defense was in the game against Wisconsin. I know I mentioned it in the first slide, but the Illinois defense was sensational. In fact, the defense masked so many issues on Saturday.

I want to first start off by pointing out the turnover margin. Coming into the game, Wisconsin was in the top 10 nationally in turnovers per game. I wanted the turnover margin for the Illini to be -3 or better. That wasn’t the case, though.

Illinois ended the game with a turnover margin of -7. The Illini had 18 turnovers compared to Wisconsin who finished the game with 11 turnovers. A turnover margin this bad won’t win too many games moving forward.

Another area I want to point out where the defense masked is shooting. Illinois wasn’t bad from the field, hitting 52.8-percent of their shots, but their three-point shooting just wasn’t on-point. The Illini only hit 31.3-percent of their three-point attempts, going 5-of-16 from distance.

The final area I will point out is the free throw shooting. Illinois was able to get to the charity stripe frequently against the Badgers, but they weren’t hitting their shots. The Illini only converted 14-of-21 from the free throw line, which comes out to 66.7-percent. I would like that to be at least 70-percent moving forward.

This was a great win by Illinois and one that will help boost us up into the top 10 come Monday. But our defense carried us in this one, and it masked some issues we still have to correct before the NCAA tournament.