Illinois basketball is playing some of the best basketball of the season, and it is coming at the right time.
Coming into last week, I was wondering how the Illini would handle an upcoming two-game west coast road trip. The first game was at No. 9 Oregon. This was going to be a tough game, but Illinois accepted the challenge.
The Illini went into Eugene and dominated the Ducks. We came away with a 32-point win over Oregon and made a statement nationally. But the good feelings of that win could all go away if we lay an egg against Washington.
Illinois stayed on the west coast and will take on the Huskies on Sunday. I would argue this is a must-win if we want to remain in talks of winning a national championship. A victory shows the world Illinois is a powerhouse program.
Here are three keys for the Illinois basketball team to beat Washington
1. Focus on paint defense
Illinois is coming into the game on Sunday with some momentum. We were able to take down No. 9 Oregon, but Washington is a different animal.
The Huskies are a team that doesn’t live and die on the three-point arc. They are an aggressive team that does their best work inside the three-point arc.
That is why I have one of the keys to beating Washington being to focus on paint defense.
Washington doesn’t shoot much from three-point range. They take 19.8 three-point attempts per game, which ranks No. 298 in the nation. They don’t shoot from deep often because they aren’t good at it. The Huskies only convert their three-point attempts at a clip of 32.2%.
On top of their three-point struggles, 53.4% of Washington’s points come from two-point range and 20.7% comes from the free throw line. That is 73.4% of their points coming from inside the three-point arc.
I will be interested to see if Brad Underwood’s plan is to slack off the three-point arc and drop more players back in coverage. We have seen this a few times with individual players throughout the season, but could we see it with multiple Washington players on Sunday?
Let’s focus on defending the paint on Sunday. While closing out on the three-point arc is always important, dropping a man down to double team someone in the paint is going to be more vital against the Huskies. Focus on paint defense.