Tonight the Illini basketball team played their first road game. They were 4.5 favorites at UNLV that was the first real test they’ve had. Yes, Bradley was previously undefeated before Illini basketball crushed them. But blowing out “Chicago’s Missouri Valley Conference Team” taught us nothing about 2013-14 Illini basketball. Tonight, we learned a few more things. Illinois was down 10 at halftime, but John Groce rallied the troops to take the lead on a couple occasions in the second half.
They held on to win 61-59, moving to 6-0. Groce is now 14-0 in November.
Jon Ekey had been on fire lately, but he suffered through an off night. Rayvonte Rice picked up both him and the rest of his Illinois mates, scoring a game high 25. He also nailed the game winner; proving that he’s the man Groce needs to take the final shot in the clutch. Illinois has found its closer/go-to-guy.
In ’12-’13 Illini basketball had WAY TOO many way too close for comfort wins against the scrubs on their schedule. But they had some big victories over Butler and at Gonzaga. They claimed a holiday preconference tournament, en route to a 12-0 start.
In ’11-’12, Illini basketball had big wins against Gonzaga and Maryland, en route to a 10-0 start. Their first loss? tonight’s opponent UNLV. Of course, that team quit on Bruce Weber, or Weber quit in midseason, or both and the team finished 6-12 in the Big Ten.
And of course, last year’s 12-0 team finished just 8-10 in conference, so the lesson is this, you learn what you learn about Illini basketball in conference play. Period. in 2010-11, Illini basketball got off to a 10-1 preconference start. The 2009-10 headcase team was an exception to the rule, as they lost their first five on neutral courts, and put up a bad preconference record, but still had a winning league record. ’08-’09 Illini basketball went 12-1 pre Big Ten.
And this year’s schedule sets up again for Illinois to have a monster winning percentage come Big Ten time. The only major difference between this year and other years of Illini basketball is all the low-majors, mid-majors, and general weak little non-opponents are all at home/the United Center. Illini basketball literally plays no one at home or in the state for the preconference. This just about never happens.
In fact, Illini basketball has just one, only ONE home date between November 30th and December 30th. One! (Dartmouth on the 10th). All their games of significance are on the road/neutral courts in opponent’s states. Tonight is the first game where we’ll learn anything about ’13-’14 Illini basketball. December 3rd at Georgia Tech in the Big Ten ACC Challenge should be interesting. The Jackets aren’t that good, but they’re something at least. Auburn in Atlanta? Naw, the Tigers are a joke. December 14th at Portland versus Oregon will be big as will Mizzou in St. Louis. Just like it always is.
I would expect Illini basketball to have three losses when they take on the Indiana Hoosiers on New Years’ Eve. If they have two or less defeats, it would have to be considered a tremendous amount of success.
Catch me Tuesdays at 10:30 AM Central talking Illinois and Northwestern for KOZN Omaha, Fox Sports Radio
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the world; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS