After a disappointing loss to Wisconsin (17-7, 9-4) on Tuesday night, No. 8 Illinois (20-5, 11-3) sits in uncharted territory. The Illini hadn’t experienced two straight losses this season, especially a loss to a team that’s unranked in the AP Top 25. Prior to this, Illinois’ win streak finally came to an end in East Lansing, Michigan, on Saturday, in an overtime game down to the wire with No. 10 Michigan State (20-4, 10-3) before it came back to Champaign for two straight home games.
Getting a win against the Badgers at a packed State Farm Center, all wearing wigs inspired by junior forward Jake Davis, was primed to be the perfect bounce-back game for the Illini. Instead, it turned into their fifth loss of the season and brought up questions of how they will survive possibly being without two of their consistent starters in the coming games. However, there may be another explanation for Illinois’ struggles.
During the last two games, Illinois has gotten away from what made it so dominant during its 12-game winning streak before the Michigan State loss. Sure, having freshman guard Keaton Wagler at its disposal, who can knock down a plethora of threes, or using junior wing Andrej Stojaković to get a bucket by slashing the lane, gives Illinois an edge. But that wasn’t what set it apart from its opponents when it went on its run. Instead, it was that the Illini didn’t skip over the little things it takes to win basketball games.
Whether it was extra effort on the offensive glass or decreasing unnecessary turnovers, Illinois figured out what it took to win games in a loaded Big Ten Conference. While Wagler’s 46-point performance at then No. 4 Purdue was remarkable and a huge reason why Illinois won that game, it shows that offensive rebounding was just as noteworthy. In comparison to the Boilermakers, who only grabbed three offensive rebounds, the Illini recorded 13, which gave them more scoring opportunities and was a difference maker in the top 10 road win.
Those types of additional hustle plays were a frequent occurrence over Illinois’ 12-game winning streak. There was never a question of whether the Illini would show up on the offensive glass or keep their opponents from getting second-chance point opportunities. In the last two games, taking pride in that small detail wasn’t there, and it impacted the results of the games.
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Against the Spartans, the Illini gave up a costly offensive rebound near the end of regulation. It led to a Spartan three to put them up before Davis knocked down the free throws to tie it. The lesson learned, though, is that it shouldn’t have come down to Davis’ free throws. The game should’ve ended after freshman forward David Mirković made his driving layup on the previous possession, but Illinois couldn’t keep Michigan State off the offensive glass when it mattered. In the very next game against Wisconsin, Illinois continued its trend of overall slacking on the glass by giving up 14 offensive rebounds, and only grabbing eight itself.
“You get humbled a little bit, and you find out what you’ve got to work on,” said head coach Brad Underwood. “Like I said, I think the most disappointing thing (about) the last two has been our rebounding. For a team that’s so big, I think we were down 9 to 3 at half on the offensive glass. We haven’t done that all year, and we’ve got all our size out there.”
The lack of focus on small details doesn’t end with rebounding. On their winning streak, the Illini rarely made mental mistakes. They took care of the ball fairly well throughout, didn’t fall short at the free-throw line, and played without fouling. These are all little things that Illinois fell short of doing over the last two games.
They might not seem like game-changers in terms of all the statistics, but for the Illini, these small details are what lost them some close games. Illinois recorded 13 turnovers against Wisconsin, shot 11 for 19 at the free-throw line, and lost by two in overtime. Before that, the Illini committed 21 fouls against the Spartans and lost in overtime by three. Before the last two games, these controllable statistics weren’t issues for Illinois. It still fouls the least amount of times per game than any team in the Big Ten, has the No. 3 best free-throw percentage at 78.4% and is No. 14 in turnovers per game. However, the lack of focus in both losses led to these uncharacteristic mistakes.
“I think missed free throws, turnovers and rebounds costed us the game,” said junior center Tomislav Ivišić. “We definitely need to be more focused in the end. We had a lead and we just let go easily and we just need to be mature like we did in most of the games this season.”
For Illinois to get back on the winning track, these smaller details need to be a point of emphasis once again. As seen in its loss to Wisconsin, it doesn’t matter how well Illinois shoots if it doesn’t step up to the plate in the other small areas that win or lose basketball games. The six-man rotation on Tuesday night certainly didn’t make matters better for the Illini. However, if they can get back to the fundamentals of why they were successful just a week ago, then there’s no reason they can’t string together wins to finish the regular season, despite possibly missing Stojakovic and senior guard Kylan Boswell for a little longer.
“There’s no room for negativity now,” Ivišić said. “We still got a lot of games in the season. We’re in a good spot … Wisconsin’s a great team, but we can’t be affected by this. Indiana’s next game, then we go to LA. We need to be ready … Loss is not an option.”
@evy_york2
