Illinois basketball traveled to New Jersey to take on a hot Rutgers Scarlet Knights program.
Rutgers was coming off a three-game stretch in which they beat three ranked Big Ten teams in a row, and they made it a fourth on Wednesday night. The No. 12 ranked Illini fell to Rutgers 70-59 in a game that wasn’t all that close.
Here are some grades from the Illinois basketball loss against Rutgers.
Offense: D
The offense for the Illini was almost a complete disaster Wednesday night, and credit that some to the Scarlet Knight’s defense. Outside of Kofi Cockburn’s 20 points, nobody on the offense could get going.
Rutgers forced Illinois into tough shot after tough shot. They kept the Illini guards out of the lane most of the game which forced Illinois to shoot 38% from the field and 6-of-23 from the three-point arc.
Trent Fraizer, Da’Monte Williams, Alfonso Plummer, Jacob Grandison, and Andre Curbelo shot a combined 9-of-33 from the field. Against a solid Big Ten team like Rutgers, that type of guard play just isn’t going to get it done.
Defense: D
The Illini defense was fine for the most part, but there was one major problem and that was corralling a rebound after Rutgers missed.
Outside of Kofi, who had 10 rebounds, Fraizer was the next leading rebounder on the team with four. Rutgers outrebounded the Illini 46-28, and we allowed 14 offensive rebounds.
Paul Mulcahy gave Williams some issues, really getting to wherever he wanted to on the court and usually made the right basketball play. Cliff Omoruyi gave the Illini fits as well putting up 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Overall: D
This was not one of Illinois’ best efforts. I know the RAC is a tough place to play but Illinois seemed to lack intensity from the tip.
Rutgers came out and punched Illinois in the mouth over and over again, and we never responded until the final seven minutes of the game. By that time, it was too late.
Illinois can’t afford to get that type of guard play and expect to win. We also have to rebound better as a team, and not just rely on Kofi. You have to get more from Grandison and Williams or it may be time to give some more minutes to Coleman Hawkins and RJ Melendez to get more size on the court.
The Illini had a chance to keep their lead in the Big Ten but came up short. They now sit 0.5 games back of Purdue at 11-4 in the conference. Illinois hits the road again to take on Michigan State on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. CT. This is a good time for a bounce-back performance.