Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Quincy

On Friday night, Illinois basketball fans got a sample of what is to come during the 2022-23 campaign.

The Illini had a chance to knock off some rust and begin the gelling process in an exhibition against Quincy. As expected, Illinois would win by a large margin, 87-52, but there are always some pros and cons to take away from a game this early in the season.

Here are five observations from the Illinois basketball win over Quincy.

1. Illinois has Steph Curry confidence

It has been well-documented that the Illini are entering the 2022-23 campaign with a pretty much new roster. This is exciting and scary all at the same time.

The first exhibition against Quincy gave Illinois fans a sneak peek about what we are going to see come the regular season. Overall, it was a pretty positive tune-up game, but there were some things from this game I will be watching in the future. One of those things is three-point shooting.

Illinois chucks up the three-point shot with Steph Curry confidence. Shooters shoot, so I don’t want this team to stop shooting three-point shots, but man, we were not hitting against Quincy.

I believe the most accurate shot from deep was Coleman Hawkins and he was 1-of-3 or 33.3%. As a team, Illinois would go 6-of-34 from three-point range, which comes out to 17.6%.

Listen, it is an exhibition game, so I am not sounding the alarms. At the end of the day, Illinois is going to shoot much better than 17.6% during the regular season. The one thing I did like about our three-point shooting was the fact no one stopped shooting the deep ball. Nine different Illini players attempted a three-pointer.

I am excited to see what this team looks like a few games into the season. This stat will surely improve.