Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini win over Michigan

3. Three-pointers aren’t going in anymore

Do you guys remember when Illinois was one of the most dominant three-point shooting teams in the country? It wasn’t that long ago when we were hitting our three-pointers consistently.

In fact, you just have to go back to January 5 to find Illinois with a 39.9% conversion rate for three-pointers. That three-point percentage ranked No. 9 in the country at the time. Life was good, shots were going in.

Illinois has played three games since January 5, though. In those three games, it is like The Monstars took away all of our ability to make a three-point shot. The Illini only hit 26.7% of their three-pointers against Maryland. That was followed up by a 36.8% performance against Nebraska.

On Friday night, Illinois’ three-point struggles continued. It wasn’t like Michigan was playing lockdown defense, though. We were just not hitting open shots.

Illinois would go 6-of-20 from three-point range, which comes out to 30% from deep. Every single Illini player seemed to be around that 30% mark as well. It was a team effort of below-average three-point shooting.

With the current rough stretch of three-point shooting, Illinois is now making 38.3% from three-point range for the season, which ranks No. 17 in the country. I know we have the ability to hit the deep shots, it just seems that the team is in a funk. We need to get back into a groove. Once that happens, the college basketball world better watch out.