Northwestern At Illinois: The Battle To Be The North Suburbs Big TenTeam

When last we saw the Illini they were scrapping, clawing and bricking their way to a victory over a top ten Michigan State team. It certainly wasn't pretty, but at this point I am beyond asking for things to look pretty, I just want victories.

Today the Illini look for a season sweep against their old in-state rivals the Northwestern Wildcats, the team whom the Illini have routinely dispatched at home, but had ridden a bad losing streak up in Evanston. Good news is, the Illini broke that streak earlier this season with another one of their patented way too close victories. Bad news is, whenever something good happens to this team, karma conspires to send us back into depression.

This is game the illini need, even with their win over the Spartans on Tuesday, they still have a relatively small margin for error the rest of this season, if they want to get a halfway decent seed in the tournament.

In past years the Illini have driven the Wildcats out of Assembly Hall by simply shooting the net off of the basket, and coming off of the 40 ish point outing against the Spartans, i would certainly take that.

Its getting to be like a broken record, but Illinois' troubles isn't that the offense isn't "working" per se, just that a lot of normally reliable shooters can't sink them. Three pointers were once an important weapon, but the team is now shooting around 30% for the season from beyond the arc, and I don't think we have even hit that number since Ohio State.

If DJ Richardson and Brandon Paul can refind their shot, or Tracy Abrams, Sam Maniscalco or Myke Henry could become a legitimate threat from shooting, a the offense would have far fewer problems.

That and, if the Illini could find a way to get the ball to Meyers Leonard at LEAST every other possession, Northwestern shouldn't really have an answer.

Beyond that though, we know one thing is true, the 'Cats are going to hurl up a lot of their own three pointers, and just try and get enough points by volume to overcome their other disadvantages against the Illini. That means the Illini have to limit their turnovers, grab rebounds, and guard well beyond the arc. If the Illini take more shots than do the Wildcats in this game, I can't see a way that they can lose.