Illinois Basketball: 4 big questions for the Illini against Wisconsin

A big ranked matchup is taking place on Wednesday night, as the Illinois basketball team looks to take down another top 25 program in Wisconsin.

The Illini are 1-2 against top 25 teams this season with their lone win coming about a week ago when we took down No. 10 Michigan State. Illinois now welcomes in No. 11 Wisconsin in what would be a big resume booster for both teams.

Here are four big questions for the Illinois basketball team against Wisconsin.

1. Can Illinois start scoring again?

To start the 2021-22 campaign, I thought Illinois was one of the best offensive teams in the country. We were hitting shots from everywhere on the court.

In the first 15 games this season, the Illini put up 80 points in eight of those contests. That is a great run of scoring. But, as of late, that scoring has dried up.

Illinois has failed to hit 70 points in their last five games, and we couldn’t even hit 60 points in our past two contests. Somehow, we are 3-2 in that stretch and could have easily knocked off a top 10 Purdue program.

On Wednesday night against Wisconsin, can Illinois start scoring again? That is a big question I am looking to have answered in a positive way.

What has gone wrong for the Illini in the past couple of weeks? We just haven’t been shooting the ball well. In the five-game stretch of sub-70 scoring, Illinois has only hit above 32% shooting from three-point range one time, and that was against Purdue when we shot 36.4%, which is still below our season average. As a team, we shot a combined 31.8% from three-point range during this stretch.

I feel like a big reason for this inconsistent shooting is the lack of chemistry. Illinois hasn’t been able to play with their full lineup on the court much this season, so the chemistry is a bit off. In the coming games, hopefully starting on Wednesday night, look for the Illini to start getting back to normal shooting from deep.