Illinois Basketball: 4 big questions for the Illini vs Northwestern

2. Will the Illini dominate the rebounding department?

It used to be that Illinois was looked at as one of the best rebounding teams in the country. We were consistently in the top five nationally in crashing the boards.

That reputation has started to wear off recently, though. Illinois is not the feared rebounding team they once were. In fact, we have dropped in the national standing quite a bit. Just a month ago, on January 13, Illinois was pulling down 43.7 rebounds per game, which ranked No. 2 in the nation. Fast forward to today, and the Illini are averaging just 40 rebounds per game, which ranks No. 16 in the country.

Illinois started the season well when it comes to rebounding the basketball. In 13 out of the first 15 games this season, the Illini won the rebounding battle. That is an impressive number, and in the two games we lost the rebounding battle, we only lost it by three rebounds in each contest.

But that great rebounding has gone away quickly. In the last eight games the Illini have played, we have only won the rebounding battle two different times. That is how bad things have gotten recently.

In that same eight-game stretch, the most rebounds Illinois has pulled down is 35 rebounds on two different occasions. Even the rebounding battles that we won weren’t impressive. In one of the two rebounding wins, Illinois only pulled down 29 rebounds.

On Sunday, I want to see if Illinois can not just win the rebounding battle, but I want us to dominate the glass. The last time we played Northwestern, the Illini outrebounded the Wildcats 36-30. I want to expand that to a double-digit rebounding margin. Let’s hit 40 rebounds in this game.