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

4. Free throw line was improved

Illinois doesn’t have too many weaknesses right now. They are a high-powered offensive team and can play defense with the best of the best. But there is one thing that does trip the Illini up at times.

That one thing is free throws. There have been games this season where the free throw line made the game much closer than it should have been for the Orange and Blue. We can get to the free throw line anytime we want, but converting on the free throws is where we struggle.

On Sunday, though, Illinois had one of their best free throw shooting nights of the season. As a team, the Illini hit 24-of-32 from the charity stripe, which comes out to 75-percent. I wasn’t sure that was a number the program could hit this season.

The big player everyone keeps an eye on at the free throw line is Kofi Cockburn. The big man faces the Hack-a-Shaq treatment in each game, so he gets to the free throw line the most. He struggled against the Buckeyes, going 6-of-13 from the foul line.

The rest of the Illinois basketball team picked up the big man, though. Kofi’s teammates shot 18-of-19 from the free throw line, which comes out to 94-percent. This was easily the best shooting night from the charity stripe this season for the Illini.

If we can continue hitting 75-percent of our free throws the rest of the way out, then I think we have a legit shot to win the national title. Let’s try to hit this number in every game.