Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Penn State

5. Illinois clinches top-three seed in Big Ten Tournament

There were a lot of negatives to take away from the game on Thursday night. Illinois did not play well, and it made Penn State hang around until the end.

But, even with Illinois playing some bad basketball, we still came away with the win. That is all that matters, right? Winning is the name of the game. That is why the players step on the court. On Thursday, Illinois won the game and this clinched a top-three seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

The worse the Illini can do is a No. 3 seed, and that is if we lose against Iowa and Purdue beats Indiana. But we can also improve our standing in the Big Ten as well.

If Illinois beats Iowa and Indiana beats Purdue, then we are the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. There is a real possibility that happens as well.

There is also a scenario where Illinois wins over Iowa and Nebraska beats Wisconsin. This is a stretch, but if it happens, then the Illini enter the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed. That would be amazing, but it is hard to see the Cornhuskers taking down the Badgers.

However the Big Ten seeding plays out, the win over Penn State on Thursday was big for Illinois. If we would have lost the game, there was a possibility we fall to the No. 5 seed and lose the double-bye. But that didn’t happen. Illinois is now in a good position moving forward. What a big win.