5 key questions for the Illinois basketball team against Missouri

The Illinois basketball team is heading into a massive game on Sunday that could determine the rest of the 2024-25 campaign.

Tennessee v Illinois
Tennessee v Illinois | Michael Hickey/GettyImages
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3. How wide can Illinois get the rebounding margin?

There are always little advantages a team can get in games that help them get over the hump and secure the win. Illinois needs to really bolster any advantage they have against Missouri.

When it comes to key advantages in the game, Illinois can pinpoint rebounding as a huge advantage. We have the big boys to compete with anyone in the country, so pulling down boards on both ends of the court will be key.

A big question I have for Illinois is not can we win the rebounding battle, it is how big can Illinois widen the rebounding margin?

This season, Illinois is pulling down 45.6 rebounds per game, which is tops in the country. No one is beating us when it comes to rebounding the basketball.

In fact, only one team has outrebounded the Illini this season. It was in the last game against Tennessee. Illinois pulled down 37 rebounds to the Vols’ 42. But in every other game, we have won the rebounding battle.

On the other hand, Missouri isn’t rebounding the basketball well. They pull down 34.9 rebounds per game, which ranks No. 200 in the country.

At the end of the day, yes rebounding is about effort, but I also believe this could be dumbed down to just Illinois is a big team. We can rebound well due to being bigger than most programs.

On Sunday, Missouri is putting out a squad that has a 7-foot big man, but he isn’t polished by any means. He only pulled down five rebounds in 22 minutes against Jacksonville State. Mark Mitchell also has decent size at 6-foot-9, but we should be able to handle him, as he only averages 5.0 rebounds per game. Let’s wield our size against the Tigers and make this a double-digit rebounding margin.

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