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

4. 40.7%

It was a tough game on Friday night with Illinois barely coming out alive. Pretty much the entire game was ugly, but the Illini still managed to pull out the victory. One of the big reasons for this was due to their defense.

I was really impressed with how Illinois started locking down the Cornhuskers on the defensive end of the court. While the Illini offense was struggling, the defense was able to clamp down and stop Nebraska from scoring too many points. In fact, this great Illinois defense has shown multiple times this season.

Illinois’ opponents are only shooting 40.7-percent from the field this season, which ranks No. 44 in the nation.

The Illini are in the top 50 nationally in defensive shooting percentage. That is a pretty great number and one that will help propel the program deep into the NCAA tournament. This trend of great defense has been why Illinois finds themselves the No. 2 team in the Big Ten and only 0.5 games back from the lead.

Out of the 13 Big Ten games Illinois has played this season, they have held their opponents under 40-percent shooting from the field six different times. 10 out of the 13 teams have been held under 45-percent from the field.

Illinois would not be where they are today without great defense. Only giving up a field goal percentage of 40.7-percent to their opponents will end up paying big dividends come March. This is how we go far in the postseason.