Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini win over Maryland

4. Illinois continues rolling

On Thursday night against Maryland, Illinois had one of their worst shooting performances from three-point range at 26.7%. They only hit 66.7% of their free throws as well. But even with that subpar play, this program continues to roll.

It is amazing how we sometimes aren’t playing well but the team has gelled so much, and the game just flows so easily with the entire squad. The Illini were struggling in the first half when Kofi Cockburn got into foul trouble. We entered the second half down four points but that didn’t matter. We fought back.

We would go on to outscore Maryland by 16 points in the second half. Kofi was the centerpiece to that dismantling, but he can’t do it alone. This entire team is like a well-oiled machine.

When a great player like Jacob Grandison is down, his teammates pick him up. Trent Frazier went for 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field. In prior games, it would be the opposite. Frazier would be having a bad game and Grandison would pick him up.

It is amazing how well this team is playing even when they statistically aren’t playing well. That gives me so much hope for the future. Illinois is now 11-3 on the season and 4-0 in the Big Ten. This is a great start, and I believe we can continue on this hot run through the rest of the year. And, just think, we might be getting Andre Curbelo back soon.

Illinois is just starting their run to the NCAA tournament. The future is bright. Let’s go out there and not just win the Big Ten regular season and tournament, but let’s win the national title. Why not?