A midweek matchup in Lincoln, Nebraska, gave No. 18 Illinois (14-7, 6-5) a tough test. Host Nebraska (13-8, 3-7) dominated the first half and fended off Illinois’ second half effort in a 80-74 overtime win.
As always in Big Ten basketball, the contest provided a mix of emotions and quality of play. Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from Illinois’ frustrating road defeat on Thursday night.
The good
It wasn’t a terribly impactful road atmosphere, but the Illini didn’t have the home fans and Orange Krush, and that resulted in them sleepwalking through the first 20 minutes. That flipped in the second, with a passionate team leaving the visitors’ locker room that immediately started attacking the glass and showing more fight.
On a night with very few true “positives” to take home, two players provided a spark. The main catalyst who kept the Illini in the game was freshman forward Will Riley. The talented first-year found a rhythm when no one else could in the second half and brought the Illini back into the game.
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He finished with 16 points, four boards and knocked down four threes. The three-point shooting was massive, and only sophomore guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn gave Illinois similar juice. His relentless drives to the basket led to 15 points, but also got the Illinois bench on its feet and engaged. Both players contributed to a much improved second-half energy from the Illini.
The bad
While three-point shooting as a whole will reside in the ugly category, the team’s two “sharpshooters” were absent for much of the game. When a team is struggling to knock down open shots, it has to get some production from its best guys.
Unfortunately for the Illini, graduate student forward Ben Humrichous and sophomore forward Jake Davis could not provide any help. The usually reliable duo from beyond the arc started 0-8 from three on mostly open looks.
Another area where Illinois executed poorly was baseline defense. There were multiple plays for Nebraska to inbound the ball under its own basket. Despite all five Illinois defenders guarding inside the three-point line, Nebraska found an open man under the hoop an uncomfortable amount of times.
The ugly
How about….the entire first half? Trailing after 20 minutes to a team on a six-game losing streak was alarming, but Illinois responded. Illinois had only trailed at the half in three games previously this year, and this was the worst team it had been behind.
Pretty much everywhere you look, the first-half box score was ugly. The Illini started the game 2-16 from three-point range. It wasn’t like the Cornhuskers were guarding well either; the Illini were just missing open shots.
The one positive for Illinois was reaching the bonus with over eight minutes to go in the first half. That couldn’t save the visitors from a nine-point halftime deficit, though.
Illinois only forced one turnover in the first, but its real problem was spreading the rock. You won’t win many DI basketball games with no assists in a half, and a Big Ten opponent makes it that much more difficult. The ball movement was lacking, and although many long-range opportunities were open, there was too much shot-chucking from the entire team.
A sour overtime
A tale of two halves — one ugly, one good — ended up canceling each other out. Nebraska and Illinois were tied at 70 after 40 minutes of basketball, and Illinois had never led for a second.
That wouldn’t change. Riley missed a free throw, which factored into Illinois’ poor 12-18 shooting from the charity stripe on the day. The team ended up only having 20 minutes of good basketball in them and shot 2-12 from the field in overtime.
A messy night ended in frustration for the Illini, who return home on Sunday, Feb. 2, to face Ohio State.
@benfader7
