5 huge observations from the Illinois basketball win over Wisconsin

4. Illinois continues to be an efficient team

Earlier in the season, the Illinois basketball team was not an efficient unit. We were passing it around a lot, but we were also turning the ball over at a high clip.

Illinois has 21 turnovers against Southern, 17 turnovers against Rutgers, and 15 turnovers against Marquette. These weren’t efficient games, but we were still winning for the most part.

Through the first 10 games this season, Illinois has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.938. That means we would have 0.938 assists to every one turnover. That isn’t good. We ranked No. 239 out of 363 DI basketball teams.

Since that 10-game mark, Illinois has continued to improve when it comes to efficiency. In the past 19 games, Illinois has had 10 games with sub-10 turnovers. In 16 out of the 19 games, Illinois has had at least a 1.00 assist-to-turnover ratio or better as well.

Against Wisconsin, Illinois had another game with more assists than turnovers. We had nine assists to just eight turnovers on Saturday. For the season, our assist-to-turnover ratio now stands at 1.214, which has climbed all the way up to No. 115 in the nation. That is a massive improvement over the past 19 games.

I will take this a step further. Over the past three games, Illinois boasts a 1.773 assist-to-turnover ratio. If we did that the entire season, the Illini would rank No. 6 in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio. That is how efficient we have been in the last few games.

Illinois is scoring at a high clip, and we are playing some great offensive basketball. But the fact we can put up those great numbers and still be efficient is mind-blowing. This team is dangerous.