4. Illinois struggled in the rebounding department
Beating Iowa by double-digit points on Tuesday night is an impressive feat. Illinois hadn’t been playing well, and this was a chance for the Hawkeyes to knock us off.
A good way to beat teams is by winning the rebounding battle. Usually, when the Illini fall short of the opposing team in rebounds, we lose the game. When Illinois loses the rebounding battle this season, we are 0-6. That means when we outrebound the other team, we are 17-5.
Well, that 0-6 record can now change. Illinois struggled on the glass against Iowa, but the Illini managed to still come away with the victory.
Iowa was rebounding well against Illinois. They were aggressive on the offensive glass, and they were getting plenty of scoring opportunities with the way they were rebounding the basketball.
There were so many times an Iowa player would rebound the ball with four Illinois players standing around watching. Tomislav Ivisic struggled with rebounding on Tuesday night. The Hawkeyes had his number despite his 7-foot-1 size.
I was disappointed with the Illinois guards when it came to rebounding too. They didn’t go after the ball hard, and this allowed Iowa to sneak in and take the rebounds.
It has only been a couple of games, but I already miss Morez Johnson Jr. While the big man was a bit undersized, he knew how to rebound with the best of the best. Illinois needs to fix their rebounding woes before the Big Ten Tournament.