Illinois Basketball: Illini need to figure things out amid AP Top 25 rise

It wasn’t the best-looking week of Illinois basketball, but we are moving up in the latest AP Top 25.

Winning is the name of the game right now. The Illini entered this past week 7-3 and were coming off an ugly loss to Penn State. This wasn’t just an ugly loss because we fell to the Nittany Lions by 15 points, it was an ugly loss because we looked terrible and didn’t even compete in the second half.

With a week in between games, Illinois was rested and should have been ready to go against a bad Alabama A&M program on Saturday. This was the lone game of the week, so a nice thumping of the Bulldogs could really have boosted morale.

Illinois ended up beating Alabama A&M by 21 points, but to say this game was a morale booster would be incorrect. The Illini were only up by one point with under 11 minutes to go in the game. The postgame press conferences didn’t settle any nausea that was felt from the lackluster play on the court either.

But, as mentioned earlier, winning is the name of the game. Getting the victory and figuring things out on the fly is what Illinois is attempting to do. Going 1-0 helped in the AP Top 25 as well. The new polls were released on Monday, and Illinois went from being ranked No. 18 in the nation to now being ranked No. 16.

Illinois basketball has to figure things out if we want to continue moving up in the AP Top 25.

I love that the Illini are moving up in the polls. Climbing to No. 16 in the country is impressive, and the team should be proud of their accomplishments. But what I have seen in the past two games makes me nervous as a fan.

Illinois looked terrible against Penn State. This past week should have been a get-right week, and the Alabama A&M game should have been a blowout. The Illini should have taken all of their anger out on the Bulldogs and put them away early.

That didn’t happen, though. Brad Underwood’s press conference after the loss to the Nittany Lions sent up some red flags. He questioned the leadership on the team, which was directed toward the upperclassmen.

The response to Underwood’s leadership questioning was a bad performance against one of the worst teams in the country. Some of the players he questioned didn’t show up for the game against Alabama A&M. This sent up even more red flags.

And then the press conference after the win over the Bulldogs made me even more nervous. From a fan’s perspective, Matthew Mayer seems upset about what is going on with the program. He mentioned that the team has a lot to figure out internally between the players and the coaches.

With that being said, this team has to get things figured out quickly. The Braggin’ Rights game is on Thursday night against Missouri. The Tigers aren’t a pushover at 10-1. After that game, Illinois then has Bethune-Cookman. Those are the only two games before we enter our full Big Ten schedule.

If Illinois can’t get things figured out, there is a chance we end up plummeting out of the AP Top 25 in the coming weeks. We might be able to win our next two games, but the Big Ten will expose us. I have faith in this team and Underwood. Hopefully, they can get this squared away.