Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini victory over Wisconsin
4. I am fascinated by the number of turnovers
When a team is 16-6 and ranked in the top five nationally, you would think they would be a great disciplined program that takes care of the ball.
On top of that, when a team loses their best player and wins two in a row to get to 18-6, you would think the players who stepped up to replace the production from the missing player would be extremely careful with the ball, and that is why they have been winning.
One would also think, if a team had 13 turnovers or more in 13 out of 24 games, that the team would be losing games at a fairly high clip.
The three scenarios I described above would be true for just about every team throughout the history of basketball. But none of them apply to the Illinois basketball program.
Illinois has indeed had 13 turnovers in 13 out of 24 games they have played in this season. They are extremely sloppy with the basketball but have managed to go 18-6 in those 24 games. It is mind-blowing how they continue to win games.
On Saturday against Wisconsin, the turnover bug hit the Illini once again. Illinois finished the game with 20 turnovers, which was a season-high. But Illinois still managed to come away with the win. 20 turnovers in a game is a number that is rarely seen in the game of basketball.
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I am fascinated by Illinois right now. The fact they can continue winning with so many turnovers has me in awe. Hopefully, the winning continues regardless of how many turnovers we have in each game.