Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini victory over Ohio State

3. A collective effort on the glass

This slide kind of goes hand-in-hand with the previous slide. A big part of winning big games is the rebounding aspect. To win a game, you have to rebound well. To rebound well, you have to have everyone crashing the glass.

Illinois won the game by three points in overtime over Ohio State, and a big reason for the win was rebounding. The Illini ended the night pulling down 42 rebounds compared to the Buckeyes who had 37 rebounds. This +5 rebounding margin is a big deal.

But what is a bigger deal is the fact so many Illinois players were going for rebounds. Six different Illini players had at least three rebounds on the night, and four of the six had at least six rebounds. That is impressive hustle by the Illini.

Kofi Cockburn, obviously, led the team in rebounding with nine rebounds, four of which were on the offensive glass. Ayo Dosunmu was huge in the rebounding department, as he pulled down nine rebounds as well.

Everyone crashing the glass is what this Illinois team needs to continue winning games. Having every player being aggressive rebounding the basketball is something that I love seeing. It was a big reason we ended up beating Ohio State.