2. Brad Underwood made a smart adjustment
I feel like I have been screaming from the mountaintops about how bad Illinois is at shooting from three-point range. The numbers don’t lie, as the sample size for the season is big enough to show this team’s true colors.
Entering Saturday, the Illini were shooting 30.7% from three-point range as a team. That was bad enough to rank No. 312 out of 364 teams in DI. On top of that, Illinois had only shot 30% or better in two out of the past 10 contests.
In that 10-game stretch of horrible three-point shooting, Illinois was still taking 29.5 three-point attempts per game, which is mind-blowing. That is about par for the course too. This season, Illinois was averaging 30.9 three-point attempts per game, which ranks No. 4 in the country. So, we rank No. 4 in three-point attempts but No. 312 in three-point percentage. That is never good.
Against Minnesota, Brad Underwood clearly made an adjustment. It was one that I had hoped he would make for some time, and it finally happened. He started to play a style of Illinois basketball circa 2021. It was a big man-centric style that featured Kofi Cockburn. Using that style with this team is extremely smart.
On that 2020-21 team, Illinois only attempted 17.6 three-pointers per game. While the attempts were down, the quality of attempts was up. The Illini hit 37.2% from three-point range that season, which ranked No. 30 in the country.
That is the style that Illinois played with against Minnesota. We weren't jacking up three-pointers just to shoot them. The shots from deep were more concise and had a purpose. Most of the time, Illinois was focused on getting the ball to the hoop or shooting from the mid-range.
There is a reason Tomislav Ivisic had a big day with 18 points and 11 rebounds. It isn’t a shock that Illinois shot 65.9% from the floor. This team is much better when we are driving to the hoop and being aggressive. Underwood made the adjustment heading into the game, and it worked out beautifully.