Writing Illini
Fansided

Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Wisconsin

By Rees Woodcock

Feb 2, 2022; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini players celebrate in the closing minute during the second half against the Wisconsin Badgers at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 2, 2022; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini players celebrate in the closing minute during the second half against the Wisconsin Badgers at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
Feb 2, 2022; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Trent Frazier (1) and teammates celebrate their win over Wisconsin at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 2, 2022; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Trent Frazier (1) and teammates celebrate their win over Wisconsin at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Three-point shooting is worrying me

Illinois went into a game against the No. 11 team in the nation and beat them by 13 points. Wisconsin couldn’t keep up with the Illini, and that is a great sight to see.

What blows my mind about this victory is the fact Illinois can win by double-digits and still shoot as poorly from three-point range as they did.

The only player who was hitting his shots consistently from deep was Jacob Grandison, which is refreshing. He would end up going 3-of-6 from three-point range on the night. As a team, Illinois would shoot 7-of-22, which comes out to 31.8%.

Starters Alfonso Plummer, Da’Monte Williams, and Trent Frazier would go a combined 3-of-14 from three-point range. That is some of the worst three-point shooting I have seen for a while. Grandison helped skew the overall percentage, but these three shooting 21.4% is not good.

Bad three-point shooting has started to become an ugly trend with Illinois as well. Wednesday night marked the fourth-straight game the Illini have shot under 32% from three-point range as a team. They have shot sub-37% in eight-straight games. Illinois hasn’t hit 40% shooting from three-point range since the Minnesota game back on January 4.

At this point, one or two bad three-point shooting games have now turned into a trend. Illinois doesn’t have a ton of flaws, but their shooting from deep is something that needs to be fixed immediately.

Home/Illinois Basketball