Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win against Michigan

5. Still alive for the Big Ten regular season

This was a big weekend for Illinois basketball. Not only are we still in the hunt for a Big Ten regular season title, but it might end up coming down to one game on Tuesday.

Illinois had to take care of business this weekend against Michigan. We led that game from the tip. While the Wolverines would give us a little scare, it did feel like Illinois had the game in control the entire time.

But the Illini needed some help if we wanted to win the Big Ten regular season. That help came this weekend as well.

Somehow, the Michigan State Spartans pulled out a huge win over Purdue on Saturday. This brought Purdue back down in the standings. If the Boilermakers would have won that game, then Illinois probably wouldn’t have a chance at a share of the conference title.

The next step for Illinois is to, obviously, win the final two games against Penn State and Iowa. If that happens, then we have a good shot. If it doesn’t happen and we drop one of those games, the chance of us winning the regular season drops to almost zero percent.

One more big thing has to happen. Purdue needs to take down Wisconsin on Tuesday. If the Boilermakers can manage to make that happen, then there would be a three-way tie atop the Big Ten. This would most likely be the final result of the regular season, meaning Illinois, Wisconsin, and Purdue would share the Big Ten regular season title.

There is a legit shot for this to happen. Illinois is doing what they need to do to get there. The win over Michigan on Sunday was a huge step. Now let’s finish this season off right.