5 big questions for the Illinois basketball team against Nebraska

3. Can the Illini guard length slow down Nebraska’s guards?

Illinois is a fascinating team in the way it is constructed. I have touched on this quite a bit in the past, but the size of the Illini roster gives teams so much trouble.

This is especially true with the Illinois guards. Every Illinois player who starts is at least 6-foot-6. The only player who plays a large number of minutes and isn’t 6-foot-6 is Justin Harmon, who checks in at 6-foot-4.

On Sunday, I am going to be watching to see if Illinois’ length can give Nebraska some trouble. Can the Illini guard length slow down the Nebraska guards?

Nebraska has had a pretty good backcourt this season. As a team, the Cornhuskers are hitting 36.2% of their three-point attempts, which ranks No. 65 in the country. A large part of this three-point success has to do with the guard play.

The top three players in three-point attempts for Nebraska are starters Keisei Tominaga and Brice Williams, and sixth man CJ Wilcher. Wilcher is hitting 48.3%, Williams 39.5%, and Tominaga 35.9%. Nebraska’s guards are great at shooting.

Most of the Cornhuskers’ guards played well in the upset win over Wisconsin too. While Tominaga had a rough game, Wilcher came off the bench and led Nebraska in scoring with 22 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range. Williams also had a good game with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Illinois has a chance to quiet the Nebraska guards, though. I think everyone in the starting lineup measuring 6-foot-6 or taller is going to give them trouble. But I also believe we need to do better on screens. Illinois’ guards need to work through screens and not around them. This has been an issue as of late. Let’s see if our guards can slow down Nebraska on Sunday.