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

By Rees Woodcock

Dec 6, 2022; New York, New York, USA; Texas Longhorns forward Dylan Disu (1) controls the ball against Illinois Fighting Illini guard Sencire Harris (1) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 6, 2022; New York, New York, USA; Texas Longhorns forward Dylan Disu (1) controls the ball against Illinois Fighting Illini guard Sencire Harris (1) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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Illinois basketball
Jan 16, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Matthew Mayer (24) reacts to his shot against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the second half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports /

Illinois basketball has a huge game on Thursday night, as the Indiana Hoosiers come to town.

The last time the Illini played Indiana was in the Big Ten Tournament, and this game left a lot of the Illinois fanbase with a bad taste in our mouths. Now we get a chance to correct things against the Hoosiers.

Here are three things to watch for in the Illinois basketball game against Indiana.

1. Does Matthew Mayer stay hot

The mid-season resurgence of the Illinois basketball team has been fun to watch. One of the biggest reasons for the recent winning has a lot to do with the emergence of Matthew Mayer.

Most people were thinking Mayer was going to be one of the leaders on this team entering the season. But that wasn’t the case through the first eight games of the year. Mayer was struggling, and Illinois was trying to find some type of leadership on the team.

Sometime between the Maryland and Texas game, a switch flipped with Mayer. He started to take a more prominent scoring role, and he ended up taking the reins as one of the leaders of this team within weeks.

In nine out of the past 10 games, Mayer has scored double-digit points. During this same stretch, he is averaging 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, and 1.1 assists per game.

On Thursday night, I am going to be watching to see if Mayer can stay hot. He is a tough player to guard. Mayer can pick and pop, he is good at driving to the basket, and he is good at shooting from three-point range. In the stretch of 10 games where Mayer has played well, he has made 27-of-62 from three-point range, which is 43.5%. He is a big part of this team right now.

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