2. Illinois shouldn’t lean on the 3-point shot
There have been some pretty painful moments this season when it comes to Illinois and shooting the basketball. We are arguably the worst three-point shooting team in the country.
Illinois has had some good three-point shooting games, but they are few and far between. I feel like the average increases when the shots decrease, though.
I want to see Illinois more focused on penetrating the Michigan State defense. Don’t settle early and often, or it could bite us. A big key to beating the Spartans is not leaning on the three-point shot.
Over the last two games, it has been refreshing seeing Illinois not focusing on three-point attempts. We were aggressive in both the UCLA and Minnesota games, and it paid off with wins. The Illini were dominating that game against the Bruins too, but toward the end, we got lazy and took bad shots from deep. It about bit us again.
In the first game against Michigan State, Illinois was smart about shooting three-point attempts. We only took 25 attempts, which is the fourth lowest of the season for the program.
Illinois was competitive in the game against the Spartans because of the smarter shooting. We didn’t have our best three-point shooter for most of that game, so we had to figure out a way to fight. Illinois didn’t lean on the three-point shot in that first game, and we shouldn't on Saturday either.