3 keys for the Illinois basketball team to beat the Purdue Boilermakers

3. Purdue will eat Illinois up if we settle

Illinois is going into a game on Friday night against a Purdue squad that doesn’t have the most talent on paper. This is a team that is scrappy and well coached.

I have always been impressed with Matt Painter. I think he gets the most out of the least when it comes to roster talent production. Painter is a great coach, and that is what scares me on Friday night.

If Illinois doesn’t play smart basketball, Purdue could eat us up. What I am talking about is not settling for three-pointers all game long, or at least early on in the game.

Listen, I realize Illinois shot lights out against Michigan. We were 14-of-37, 37.8%, from three-point range in that victory. But the Illini didn’t start shooting from three-point range early on. We let the game come to us and got our confidence up by seeing the ball go in the bucket early on.

Illinois was able to get to the rim and play more compacted basketball in the first half against Michigan. If we had shot more three-pointers in that first half, it would have dug us into a hole. Illinois was only 3-of-14 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes of that game.

Purdue will have a heyday with the Illini if we start chucking up three-pointers earlier. Not only are we inconsistent when shooting from long range, but Purdue is also good at shutting down the three-point shots.

This season, the Boilermakers only allow opponents to shoot 30.5% from three-point range. That is good enough to rank No. 25 in the country. Let’s start off aggressive and sprinkle in three-pointers. Don’t start by firing three-pointers at a high clip.