Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Indiana

5. Illinois was out-hustled on the boards

I have had many issues with the Illinois basketball team this season, but one area of the court I haven’t had too many issues with is rebounding.

For the most part, Illinois has been a good rebounding team. Coming into the Indiana game, the Illini were averaging 39.7 rebounds per game, which ranked No. 13 in the country. Even if the team was playing below-average basketball, we could always rely on our rebounding ability.

That all ended on Thursday night. Not only did Illinois play some bad basketball offensively and defensively, but we couldn’t pull down a rebound. The Illini ended the night with 27 rebounds compared to Indiana, which finished with 39 rebounds.

Some people would see that rebounding comparison and think that Indiana just crashed the glass. There were elements of that for sure, but Illinois didn’t hustle for rebounds, and we didn’t go up strong to pull down the ball.

There were so many times when either team would shoot the ball, and the Illinois players would just stand around watching the ball bounce off the rim. We wouldn’t block out or attempt to go for the ball until it was too late.

When an Illinois player was in a good position for a rebound, we would go up for the ball but most of the time it was with just one hand. I wasn’t sure if I was watching basketball or if Odell Beckham Jr. was trying to catch another one-handed pass. It was so frustrating. Go up and get a rebound with two hands. The number of times I saw the ball fly off of an Illinois hand because we couldn’t secure the ball was so frustrating.

Everything broke down for the Illini on Thursday night. It was an ugly game from the tip. This was one of the worst games I have seen Illinois play in a long time.