5 huge questions for the Illinois basketball team against Wisconsin

4. Does Dain Dainja have another big game?

The re-emergence of Dain Dainja this season has been fun. He is someone who has a ton of talent, but Brad Underwood hasn’t utilized him this season due to his style of play.

Over the last couple of games, Illinois has needed Dainja, though. He came into the Iowa game and gave us six points and eight rebounds in the 10-point win. On Wednesday, Dainja played well again with 11 points and six rebounds in a big win over Minnesota.

I am looking for Dainja to continue to get minutes for Illinois. Does the big man have another big game for the program on Saturday against Wisconsin?

Dainja is averaging 17.5 minutes per game in the last two contests. That is essentially playing half of basketball each game. I believe Illinois is going to need that out of him against the Badgers. I also believe this game sets up well for the big man.

Wisconsin is not very good at stopping teams when they get inside the three-point arc. This season, the Badgers are allowing teams to shoot 50.8% from two-point range. That is bad enough to rank No. 198 in the country.

The Badgers’ big men are also coming off a bad game against Indiana. Kel’el Ware just dropped 27 points, 11 rebounds, and five blocks in an upset win over the Badgers. That is what I could see out of Dainja on Saturday.

I am not expecting Dainja to have 27 points, but he can make a huge impact like Ware. Dainja has quick moves on the inside, and his rebounding ability is second to none on the Illinois basketball team. Dainja can push around Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl on the inside. Look for Dainja to play at least 17 minutes again and put up solid numbers for the Illini.