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Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from Illini victory over Northwestern

By Rees Woodcock

Feb 16, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; The national anthem is played before a game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Northwestern Wildcats at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 16, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; The national anthem is played before a game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Northwestern Wildcats at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 12, 2021; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood reacts in overtime against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Illinois lacks basic fundamentals

The Illinois basketball team is 15-5 this season, 11-3 in the Big Ten and ranked as the No. 5 team in the nation. Those are all great numbers of a team that is massively flawed when it comes to basic fundamentals.

Let me first start with turnovers. Wow, we do not care about the ball at all. Illinois finished the game with 15 turnovers but, honestly, it felt like way more than that. There was a three-possession stretch where the Illini had a turnover each time down the court.

With that 15-turnover performance against Northwestern, the Illini now average 13.6 turnovers per game this season, which ranks No. 193 out of 347 teams who qualify. We are in the bottom half of the country in the turnover department.

Now let’s move on to free throws. I didn’t think it could get any worse than how many turnovers Illinois was giving up, but I was wrong. Our free throw shooting is absolutely horrendous.

Illinois, again, had a terrible free throw shooting performance on Tuesday night against the Wildcats. As a team, the Illini were 11-of-22 from the charity stripe, which is 50-percent. You can’t just blame Kofi Cockburn for the bad shooting either. He only shot six of the free throws. It was embarrassing.

For the season, Illinois’ free throw shooting is at a season-low. They are hitting 68.6-percent of their free throws, which ranks No. 239 out of 347 programs. That is actually in the bottom-third of the nation in free throw shooting.

Just think about this; Illinois is the No. 5 team in the nation and continues to win games despite being fundamentally flawed. Just imagine if we had a couple of fewer turnovers per game and hit a few more free throws. How good of a program could we be then?

We need to start caring about the ball more often. We need to start hitting our free throws when we get to the charity stripe. These two things need to change before they bite us in the butt.

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