Illinois Basketball: Illini vs Iowa first half takeaways

Illinois basketball had a rough first half against Iowa on Sunday night.

The Illini need a win in the worst way since Wisconsin lost earlier today to Nebraska. A win for the Orange and Blue would mean a share of the Big Ten regular season and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.

But Illinois would have to get past a top 25 Iowa program to lock in those two achievements. Through 20 minutes of action, the prospects of winning the game are looking a little shaky.

Illinois basketball started to find their groove late in the first half against Iowa.

It has not been an easy first half for the Illini. A slow start enabled the Hawkeyes to jump out to an early lead. They would eventually expand that lead to 15 points with less than five minutes to go in the first half.

That lead would dwindle, though. Illinois fought back late in the first half and managed to narrow the deficit to just six points at the halftime break.

What is going wrong for the Illinois basketball team?

It seems that there isn’t energy with this program right now. Throughout the season, there have been points in games where this has happened. It is almost like the Monstars zapped the regular Illinois players.

I believe Brad Underwood needs to leave a lineup in for more than a minute as well. We can’t seem to get into a groove, and when a groove does start, a player is pulled, and a fresh new lineup is in the game. Let’s run with a consistent lineup for longer periods of time.

What can the Illinois basketball team do to beat Iowa?

A good mix of Kofi Cockburn and shooting from the outside is needed. It seemed to work when Alfonso Plummer was starting to shoot more toward the end of the first half. This shooting threat opened Kofi up on the inside for easier buckets.

As mentioned above, getting a consistent lineup to play for longer periods of time will help. I think gelling seems to be a big issue right now.

Illinois is still in this game and it is far from over. We didn’t look good in the first half, but we are only down six points. Let’s come out looking alive in the second half and take the lead.