5. Illinois was taking controlled three-pointers
I touched on how good Illinois’ three-point defense was against Michigan on Tuesday. They only allowed the Wolverines to make one three-pointer. On the other end of the court, Illinois looked great from beyond the three-point arc.
There have been so many games this season where I have gotten frustrated with the Illini. We don’t move the ball around, and that results in someone jacking up a bad three-point attempt. This has been the case in quite a few games.
On Tuesday night, that rarely happened. Illinois played incredibly well, and it was a team effort. The fact it was a team effort resulted in Illinois taking controlled three-point attempts.
The ball moved around a lot. That doesn’t just mean on the perimeter either. The ball would get into the paint, and if there was nothing there, Illinois would swing it back out to the perimeter. From there, the ball would continue to move, and it usually resulted in an open three-point attempt in the corner by Terrence Shannon Jr.
When Illinois plays a controlled game, we are tough to beat. We aren’t a terrible three-point shooting team when the ball is being moved and we are finding the open man. The ball isn’t stopping and we aren’t holding it while waiting for the shot clock to dwindle.
Illinois finished the Michigan game shooting 12-of-25, 48%, from three-point range. This was the second-best three-point shooting performance of the season, and the best when there were 20 or more attempts.
If Illinois can continue moving the ball and playing like a team, then we are going to be nearly unstoppable come March. Let’s see if we can carry this great play into the next game.