This 2024-25 Illinois basketball season is getting rapidly redefined downward, unfortunately, and it’s largely due to the team’s overreliance on three point shooting. They are embodying the cliche of “live and die by the three” to the utmost. Tonight at home versus #11 Michigan State, they came out of the gates guns blazing, knocking down several three point attempts.
Early on, Illinois was running away with it, getting out to leads of 19-8, 31-15 and 35-21.
Then things cooled off, and this Illinois basketball team went to the break having only shot 6-17 from three. It was regrettable, but at least the Illini went into the second half with a lead.
Then they shot just 1-16 from three point range in the 2nd half, and the final tally was 7-33, only 21.2%.
This isn’t anything new this season- we’ve seen the Illini shot below 25% from distance in a game, and still take 25+ three-point attempts in said game, several times.
It’s getting to be a song that’s more overplayed than “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. And just about every Illinois basketball fan knows this, and vents about this with fellow Illinois basketball fans.
About a month ago, Illinois was looking at maybe grabbing a potential #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Now, a month away from Selection Sunday, they’re looking at maybe a #7 seed, or perhaps an #8 or even a #9 seed if they don’t figure this out.
It feels like the Illini are shooting themselves out of the season right now.
Illinois basketball coach Brad Underwood took ownership of the situation tonight.
“We fell in love with what was easy and that’s shooting threes,” he told the media in postgame.
“And got away from what we were doing and that’s living in the paint.”
Underwood implied that there wasn’t much he could do in terms of changing the offensive approach, or what plays they call.
“Ultimately, it’s we run a lot of the same plays, a lot of the same actions,” he continued,
“We got some good looks…it’s the succession of those, and then it crescendos…I have to continue to hammer this group about getting in the paint…getting downhill.”
Illinois basketball ‘s leading scorer, Kasparas Jakucionis, missed three 3pt FGAs on one possession alone. He ended up 2-9 from distance, 5-15 from the field.
He owned up to having an off night, due to poor shot selection, saying “I didn’t do a good job…I didn’t shoot good shots.”
The living legend on the opposite side, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, broke the all-time Big Ten wins record with tonight’s W.
“we thought they missed some wide open threes because they got a little tired themselves,” Izzo added
“This time of year fatigue sets in. I think they missed some good threes.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.