Illinois Basketball: 4 big statistics from the Illini win over Wisconsin

3. 0.54

Many people reading this are probably thinking, man that is a weird number. What could 0.54 represent? Well, before the game on Saturday, Wisconsin was one of the most efficient teams in college basketball.

The Badgers were a disciplined program that didn’t cough up the ball very often. In fact, Wisconsin had one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the country. Before playing Illinois, the Badgers had a 1.5 ATR, which ranked No. 10 in the nation. That wasn’t the case on Saturday.

Wisconsin finished the Illinois game with a 0.54 ATR.

What does 0.54 ATR mean, though? That means for every 0.54 assists Wisconsin had against Illinois, they would turn the ball over one time. This is an incredibly bad number.

Just this season alone, Wisconsin had only had three games where their ATR was below one. In the Michigan loss, they had a 0.8 ATR, and in the Maryland win, they had a 0.91 ATR. That means Illinois held Wisconsin to their worst ATR this season.

Illinois’ hands were active the entire game. I already mentioned in a previous slide how the Illini kept their hands up on closeouts against Wisconsin’s three-point attempts. This disrupted their three-point shooting, which takes away their assists. But Illinois’ hands were active on the inside too.

Wisconsin would try to get the ball into Micah Potter in the paint. The Illini would steal the ball at times during the entry pass, or they would force Potter to take a 5-10 foot shot with a hand in the face. It was a great display by the Illini on defense.