Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win vs Northwestern

4. It felt like we mentally checked out in the second half

I would never say the Illinois basketball players don’t give their full effort. I think each player goes out on the court and gives it their all. But I felt like the Illini were kind of mentally checked out. It was almost like they had other things on their mind in the second half.

This could have been the case due to the fact we had a 14-point lead at halftime. Maybe it was the mentality that we have this in the bag, but Illinois came out in the second half and didn’t have the same zest that we saw in the first half.

The Illini weren’t taking care of the ball like they should have been in the second half. Illinois only had six turnovers in the first 20 minutes of action, which is about on point for the season average. But, in the second half, Illinois would end up with 14 turnovers. Those 14 turnovers in the second half were more than Illinois’ season average of 12.7 turnovers per game.

I also wanted to point out the lack of ball movement in the second half. I loved the way Illinois was zipping the ball around in the first 20 minutes. The team was moving and players were getting open for shots. Illinois would end up with 10 assists in the first half. But, in the second half, the ball was more stagnant. We weren’t looking for players coming off screens. Most of the time, we were dumping the ball inside. The Illini would end up with just five assists in the second half.

Illinois players play hard. They are bought into Brad Underwood and the coaching staff. But there are times in games where it seems that they are almost spacing out. In the second half against Northwestern, that is how it felt and it nearly cost us the game.