Well-rested and fresh off a 90-77 marquee win over Arkansas on Thanksgiving Day, No. 19 Illinois (6-1, 0-0 Big Ten) has to feel good about its trajectory heading into Friday’s matchup with in-state rival Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston (8 p.m. CT, on Big Ten Network).
The Wildcats (6-3, 0-1 Big Ten) have already begun their conference slate, having fallen to Iowa in an 80-79 heartbreaker on Tuesday. NU has lost to all three of its high-major opponents this early season – but by a combined score of just eight points.
What more can we learn about the Illini that the Wildcats can help reveal? As usual, we have some questions we hope to see answered on Friday:
When will the Illini make their free throws?
For a team that lives at the line (25.9 free-throw attempts per game – 25th in Division I), Illinois needs to start showing that it values its opportunities there. Having shot under 70 percent from the line in three of their past four games, the Illini have made things more difficult than necessary – and arguably shot themselves out of any chance at a win against Alabama at the charity stripe (54.2 percent). They will find themselves dropping more games in conference play if they aren’t able to fix the problem soon. Flush with shooters, the Illini seem more likely to be suffering from a mental block or sloppiness rather than any physical shortcomings. This one is solveable.
Can Illinois dictate the pace?
Through seven games, the Illini have been held under 80 points just once. Funnily enough, in Northwestern’s nine games, the Wildcats have allowed an opponent 80 points or more only once. (In fact, it was exactly 80, in the Iowa loss.) Something’s gotta give, right? In Illinois’ only slow-tempo game of the season, it struggled to find a flow against Oakland – though at least as much of the offense’s struggles had to do with the Golden Bears’ zone as it did their pace. With the Illini moving up to more consistently challenging matchups in conference play, they will likely want to get up and down most nights (especially against a team with fewer weapons, such as Northwestern). And if they don’t set a brisker pace, they had better start adjusting to a slower one.
Kylan Boswell hit Will Riley with an alley-oop pass for a slam dunk‼️🔥#B1GMBball x @IlliniMBB pic.twitter.com/qAoubf5hbx
— Big Ten Men’s Basketball (@B1GMBBall) November 26, 2024
Can the Illini continue to limit turnovers?
Illinois enters this game committing 11.0 turnovers per game, which sounds like a reasonable enough number. Then again, the Illini haven’t faced many defenses with the players or scheme to trouble them (aside from Oakland, which forced Illinois into 18 turnovers). The Wildcats want to apply pressure, creates deflections and turn over their opponents (which they’re currently doing at a solid rate of 13.7 times per game). The Illini, especially point guard Kasparas Jakucionis (who is averaging 3.6 turnovers) need to tighten their handles and avoid allow the Cats to speed them up on their terms.
