Illinois Basketball: 3 things to watch for in the Illini game against Michigan State

3. Do the Illini keep the Spartans off the free throw line

There have been a few games this season where the free throw line has killed Illinois. Immediately, I think of the Northwestern game where the Wildcats shot 40 free throws.

Another ugly free throw game was against Virginia. The Cavaliers ended the night attempting 32 free throws. That is a lot of points just handed to the opposing team. We can’t have that against Michigan State.

I am going to be keeping an eye out to see if Illinois can control how many times the Spartans go to the charity stripe. I don’t want the Illini to give up more than 15-18 free throws or it could be a rough night.

Michigan State is actually one of the worst teams in the country when it comes to free throw attempts per game. They are attempting just 14.6 free throws each night, which comes out to No. 324 out of 363 DI programs. But when they get to the charity stripe, the ball usually goes in the hoop.

Even though the attempts aren’t high, the Spartans convert their free throws at a clip of 75.6%, which ranks No. 37 in the nation. This efficiency was one of the killers in the Michigan State win over Wisconsin. The Spartans got to the free throw line for 17 attempts and they made 16 of those shots.

If Illinois can keep Michigan State away from the free throw line, we should be able to hold them to a relatively low number on the scoreboard. Honestly, don’t be shocked if Illinois has back-to-back games of holding teams under 60 points.