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

4. +16

Coming into the game on Tuesday, Illinois was one of the best rebounding teams in the nation. They averaged 40.2 rebounds per game, which ranked No. 12 in the nation. But Michigan wasn’t much worse.

The Wolverines could hold their own in the rebounding department. They were pulling down an average of 38.9 rebounds per game, which ranked No. 32 in the nation. So, there wasn’t much of a gap there in rebounding ability. But, by the end of the game, the Illini were clearly the better rebounding team.

Illinois finished the game against Michigan with a +16 rebounding margin.

When you outrebound a team by a couple of boards, that is a victory in my books. But when you outrebound a team by 16 total rebounds, that is complete and utter domination.

Illinois managed to outrebound Michigan 42-26. The Wolverines’ 26 rebounds were the fewest for the program this season. The -16 rebounding margin for Michigan is the worst from them this season as well. In fact, they only had one negative rebounding margin before the game on Tuesday, and that was against Purdue back on January 22 where they were outrebounded 39-37.

So, the Illini did something that only one other team had managed to accomplish this season. They were able to secure more rebounds than Michigan. But they didn’t just outrebound the Wolverines by a couple of rebounds, like Purdue. Illinois was able to blow the Wolverines out of the water in the rebounding department.