4. The Illini ball movement was phenomenal
Illinois came away with a huge win on Tuesday night, and a big reason we secured this victory was due to the great ball movement by the entire Illini squad.
When I looked at the box score after the game, I was baffled by the assist number. Illinois had 15 assists in the game but honestly, I thought it was going to be more. With the way the Illini were distributing the basketball, I thought it was going to be closer to 20 assists against UCLA.
As a team, we use the pass effectively. Getting out of UCLA’s presses with the pass was huge. The Illinois coaching staff clearly worked on that, and it was executed flawlessly. Illinois knew where to go with the ball, and this led to multiple open buckets at the other end.
Team chemistry has also helped when it comes to passing the basketball. Illinois’ players are getting comfortable, and they know where they will be the vast majority of the time.
There were multiple possessions when the ball would fly around the court, and it would end up hitting an open cutter to the basket for an easy two points.
Illinois also doesn’t let the ball go stagnant too often in games. With some teams in the past, we would get too complacent and not move around. That doesn’t happen with this squad. The ball and players are always moving, and this helps with spacing.
I think there were four or five times on Tuesday night that I uttered, “Wow” to Illinois’ passing ability. It was a spectacular show, and this type of basketball is winning basketball.