Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Virginia

Even with a loss, I believe it was a good weekend for the Illinois basketball program.

The Illini started the weekend off on the right foot by taking down No. 8 UCLA to advance to the championship of the Continental Tire Main Event.

In the championship game, Illinois had Virginia on the ropes. We led with less than four minutes to go in the game. But a drought would end up sealing our fate, as the Cavaliers would pull ahead and win the game 70-61.

Here are five observations from the Illinois basketball loss to Virginia.

1. Not enough ball movement

One of the many things that have impressed me this season about the Illinois basketball team is the fact we have been able to come together and gel this quickly into the 2022-23 campaign.

I had this Illini squad pegged to struggle a few times before finally clicking a month into the season. That isn’t the case at all, though. We are playing some great basketball, and I attribute that style to the ability of Illinois to move the ball around the court.

The ball movement by the Illini has been sensational for the most part. Even in the 70-61 loss, the Illini sometimes moved the ball well. There was a time when Dain Dainja got the ball down in the post. He kicked it back out and Illinois hit a shot. Another memory that pops up is when the ball moved around the perimeter and, I believe, Coleman Hawkins could have put up a three-pointer, but he passed it one more time to Jayden Epps and he nailed the three-point shot.

While the ball did move well at times, I would still have liked to have seen more ball movement out of the Illini. We finished with just 11 assists on the night to 13 turnovers. Coming into the game, Illinois had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.092. Against Virginia, we finished at 0.846.

I think ball movement is the name of the game for the Illini. When that ball is whipping around, we are at our best.