5 key questions for the Illinois basketball team against Purdue

Illinois basketball gets one more shot at the Purdue Boilermakers in the regular season on Tuesday night.

This is a huge game for both teams. If the Illini beat Purdue and then finish strong against Iowa, we can sneak into the No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. If the Boilermakers beat Illinois, they are a near lock for the No. 1 seed in the Big Dance.

There are a lot of questions for the game on Tuesday night, but I narrowed it down to five key questions.

Here are five key questions for the Illinois basketball team against Purdue

1. Can Illinois get out to a decent start?

Over the last few years, Illinois and Purdue have been near or at the top of the Big Ten. These two programs have dominated the conference in the 2020s.

These two teams have matched up twice in the last two seasons with the third installment coming on Tuesday night. Each game was a five-point margin. Purdue won both battles, the first 76-71 and the most recent 83-78.

Illinois has been close to knocking off Purdue, but the Boilermakers always start hot. Can Illinois get out to a decent start and maybe clip Purdue this time around?

In the game last season, Illinois came out of the gates looking sluggish. We dug ourselves into a 21-point hole, 47-26 by halftime. The fact we pulled to within five points is crazy to me.

The same was nearly true a couple of months ago as well. Illinois got into a 15-point hole by halftime. The team looked completely different in the second half and managed to get the margin back to five points.

I am worried about another slow start, though. Illinois is a sub-.500 team in the first 10 minutes of each game. In the final 30 minutes, we look like national championship contenders. Let’s keep this game within five points in the first 10 minutes, and I think we have a good shot at beating the No. 3 team in the country.