Illinois Basketball: Illini are an extraordinarily worse first half team in Big Ten play

Nothing is more depressing as a fan of the Illinois basketball program than seeing a team full of talent not live up to our potential.

This season has been a struggle for the Illini. While a record of 20-11 overall and 11-9 in the Big Ten doesn’t seem like the end of the world, the talent on paper and what I have seen with my eyes says that this team should be much better than our record shows.

Illinois has lost and won in various fashions this season. We have dominated from start to finish, we have gotten out to leads and then barely held on, we have led in the first half but let games slip away, we have dug ourselves into holes and then flourished to victory in the second half, and we have dug into a first half hole and couldn’t manage to cap off the comeback.

The latter one is what happened on Sunday. In a matter of minutes, Illinois was down by double-digit points against Purdue, and we would head into halftime with a 21-point deficit on our hands.

Digging into this type of hole is not sustainable. Illinois won’t make it too far in the postseason by doing this, and we all know that this is a fact. But why do the Illini manage to struggle in the first half?

Illinois basketball has been a resoundingly worse team in the first half of games

It has seemed, especially of late, that Illinois struggles in the first half of games. So, I wanted to see if this was true. Do the numbers show that the Illini struggle in the first half or do the last few games skew my perception of what is really going on?

Well, I think the numbers show that Illinois is a bad first half team. I am not talking about just being a little worse in the first half compared to the second half. I am talking about this Illini bunch being two completely different teams in Big Ten games.

I just looked at the Big Ten when comparing numbers, since those are the only games we have been playing since the beginning of 2023. For the 20 games of the Big Ten season, the Illini are +42 in the scoring department. That means when I take all of the final scores, Illinois has outscored Big Ten opponents by 42 points.

That is an okay number. While I would like it to be greater, it does mean we are winning more often than not. The number that I don’t like is the first half total compared to the second half total.

In the first half of the 20 Big Ten games Illinois has played this season, we are -60 against our opponents. Yes, that is a minus sign in front of the number 60. We are down by a total of 60 points heading into halftime of Big Ten games.

So, by doing some math, that means the Illini are +102 in the second half of Big Ten games this season. Just let that soak in for a second. That is a 162-point swing from the first half to the second half in Big Ten games.

But why is this happening? Why is Illinois a terrible team in the first half and a great team in the second half?

Leaders need to lead, it is plain and simple. So, I looked at the player who should be leading this Illinois basketball program; Terrence Shannon Jr. Do his numbers reflect what is happening with Illinois in the first and second half of games? The answer is, yes.

Shannon’s first half numbers are worse than his second half numbers across the board. In the first half of Big Ten games this season, he is averaging 15.9 minutes, 6.3 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.6 turnovers. He is also shooting 39% from the field and 21% from three-point range.

Something happens to Shannon coming out of the halftime locker room. Some type of switch flips, and he is a better player in the second 20 minutes of action.

In the second half of Big Ten games, Shannon is averaging 16.6 minutes, 9.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.2 turnovers. He is also hitting his shots from the field at a clip of 44%, and the number that pops out to me the most is the fact Shannon is shooting 37% from three-point range in the second half of Big Ten games.

I have always felt like Shannon was not engaged early on in games this season and these numbers kind of prove my thoughts to be correct. Brad Underwood and the Illini coaching staff need to make it a priority to get Shannon involved. Get him engaged early in games so that we aren’t digging out of a hole by halftime.

I am not blaming everything on Shannon. There are elements of him needing to be a leader for this program, but the Illini coaching staff also needs to realize that he is a big-time player who needs to be involved early and often. The numbers I put together above were enough to get us into the NCAA tournament, but they are not sustainable. If we keep getting into big deficits in the first half, we will get bounced quickly in March.