5 big observations from the Illinois basketball win over Maryland
It was a crazy ending to a nail-biting game on Saturday, but the Illinois basketball team emerged victorious.
The Illini let Maryland hang around the entire game. Despite the Terrapins shooting 22.2% from three-point range, Illinois couldn't increase the lead to an unmanageable margin.
Eventually, Maryland would pounce. The game was a one-point margin in favor of the Illini with less than four minutes to go. Some great hustle by Illinois eventually increased the lead, and thankfully, we came out ahead, 85-80.
Here are five big observations from the Illinois basketball win over Maryland
1. Illinois got complacent in the second half
Illinois needed to look good against Maryland and finally beat the Terrapins in College Park. In the first 20 minutes of action, things were looking great.
The Illini started the game in an efficient manner. We weren’t taking bad shots, and the ball was moving around the floor. This enabled us to get quality looks in the paint and open shots from three-point range.
In the first half alone, Illinois shot 50% from the field and 42% from three-point range. But, much like in the first game against Maryland, the Illini came out of the halftime break and didn’t look good. We didn’t make adjustments, and this hurt the team.
Illinois started standing around and watching the ball handler. We weren’t moving toward the basket or with a purpose. The result was a player, usually Terrence Shannon Jr., dribbling around and taking a bad three-point attempt. Illinois also played a lot of solo basketball, and we couldn’t break through the zone.
The result in the second half was Illinois going 0-of-8 from three-point range, but when we actually drove to the basket, we were much more successful. If you take away the bad three-point attempts, Illinois shot 12-of-18 from two-point range.
In the second half, we got lazy. Illinois didn’t look good, but we still escaped with a win. This was a big victory but one that came close to slipping away.
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