Illinois Basketball: Illini roadmap to winning the Big Ten in 2021-22

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Dec 21, 2019; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood reacts to a call during the second half against the Missouri Tigers at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

Section 2: @Maryland, #10 Michigan State, @Northwestern, #24 Wisconsin, @Indiana

The second section gets trickier. The should-be wins in this section include @Northwestern and @Maryland. As a team, Illinois has won six in a row against Northwestern, and since Kofi joined the team, the Illini have won four in a row with an average margin of victory being 11 points.

Michigan State is going to be tough, despite the game being at home. Tom Izzo game plans well for the Illini, as he has won three straight in the series and five out of the last six. I have Illinois dropping this game.

Another team that hasn’t beaten Illinois since Kofi Cockburn arrived on campus is Wisconsin. The Badgers come to Champaign as a top 25 team, and I have the Illini coming out ahead. Illinois has won the last three games by an average of seven points.

Illinois then travels to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers. Indiana is 10-2 and playing well this season. But Indiana goes through big man Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Kofi can shut him down. While it probably will be close, as the last three Illinois wins were single-digit, I still see the Illini coming out with a win here.

Record after Section 2: 18-4 (11-1)

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