Illinois Basketball: 4 big questions for the Illini vs Maryland
4. Can we play well in the 1st half?
Illinois is having a pretty good season. We sit at 13-4 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten. The Illini also hold the lead in the conference, tied with Wisconsin at the top.
Even with the victories and the team playing well, I can confidently say, we are not a first half team. Illinois elevates their game to another level in the second half, but the first half has not been nice to us, especially of late.
In the past five games, the Illini are 4-1 with their only loss being a double-overtime nailbiter to No. 4 Purdue. But, despite the good record, we have actually been down at halftime in three of those contests.
Purdue had us by 11 points in the first half on Monday. We were down by three points to Nebraska and came out victorious. We were also losing to Maryland in the first matchup by four points at the halftime break.
When it comes to the first half, Illinois’ scoring is down as well. We are only averaging 36.2 points per game in the first half, which ranks No. 47 in the nation. That is still a good number, but we are averaging 42.9 points per game in the second half, which is No. 9 in the country.
Next. Zylon Crisler picks Illini because “It felt like home!”. dark
On Friday night, I am going to be watching to see if Illinois can come out of the gates and put a solid first 20 minutes together. Getting off to a good start would be nice to see. It would make life a lot easier on the coaching staff as well.