Illinois Basketball: 5 burning questions for the Illini against Kansas

3. Can Ty Rodgers give Illinois anything at the free throw line?

I am excited to see the development of a lot of Illinois basketball players. Ty Rodgers is someone who has a high ceiling and could be pretty special for this program.

Rodgers is developing into a solid point guard for the Illini. He had three assists in 14 minutes in the Ottawa game. But with the Kansas exhibition likely to be played as a real game situation, I want to see if Rodgers can be more consistent at the charity stripe.

I know that it was just an exhibition game, but Rodgers continued to struggle from the free throw line against Ottawa. He was 0-of-3 in that game, and this has been a trend since coming to Illinois.

As a freshman, Rodgers shot poorly from the charity stripe. He was a 38.7% free throw shooter last season, which is insanely bad. To put how bad that is into perspective, there were nine Illinois players who shot better from the free throw line in 2022-23.

I was hoping this offseason would have done some good for Rodgers at the free throw line, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. His ability to convert at the free throw line, or lack thereof, could hurt Illinois in important games. Hopefully, he will show an improvement in the exhibition game against Kansas.