Illinois basketball wielded its power on Sunday, as Chicago State didn’t have a shot in this contest.
The Illini were clearly a better team from the jump. While the Cougars stayed close for a few minutes, Illinois started to hit shots and took full control of this game early in the first half.
It was an impressive performance against one of the worst teams in the country. Illinois looked good in every facet of the game, and by the final horn, it showed as we won the game, 117-64.
Here are five big observations from the Illinois basketball win over Chicago State
1. That type of three-point shooting makes Illinois unstoppable
We all know that the Illinois basketball team can be the best team in the country on certain nights. There are also some games where they look like a sub-five seed in the NCAA tournament.
On Sunday afternoon, the Illini looked like one of those teams that can’t be beaten. If we play like we did against Chicago State the rest of the season, particularly in the three-point department, then we should be the odds-on favorite to win the national championship.
I know, it is just Chicago State, but shooting is shooting. Illinois let the entire roster loose on the three-point arc, and it paid off in a big way. Illinois put up 117 points, and a lot of that scoring came from deep.
As a team, Illinois shot 15-of-33, 45.5%, from three-point range. There isn’t a team in the country that is beating us if we shoot that well. I would argue, that a team isn’t beating us if we shoot north of 40% from three-point range.
Shockingly, this wasn’t the best three-point performance for the Illini this season. We shot 48.4% from three-point range in the 13-point win over a good Arkansas team on Thanksgiving.
Over the past six seasons under Brad Underwood, Illinois is 41-6 when shooting at least 40% from three-point range. This is the deepest and most talented out of all of those squads, so shooting north of 40% will likely make us unstoppable.