3. -10
While Illinois has great depth that I love seeing on the court, I also believe that the starters are starters for a reason. I want to see most of them playing the most minutes.
Keeping certain players on the court as much as possible is important. The biggest example of that is Kofi Cockburn. He is, by far, the best option we have at the No. 5 spot, so losing him to something like foul trouble would be devastating. Thankfully, foul trouble wasn’t a huge issue on Saturday.
Illinois had 10 fewer fouls than Ohio State.
This stat bucks a major trend for the Illini. Honestly, both teams are pretty bad in the foul department. Ohio State is averaging 18.1 fouls per game this season, which ranks No. 242 in the nation. While that is bad, Illinois doesn’t rank much better.
The Illini are now averaging 17.8 fouls per game, which ranks No. 219 in the nation. So, each team fouls at a fairly high clip. Having Illinois come in with just 14 fouls was important in their win. If the foul situation would have been closer to the season average for both programs, this game would have gone a different way.
Keeping key players on the floor is extremely important. Kofi did manage to get into some foul trouble against the Buckeyes, and when he had to sit for a few minutes, Ohio State pounced. Winning the foul battle by 10 fouls played a big role in why we came out victorious. Let’s see if we can keep the fouls in our favor.