This Illinois team lost to a good Michigan State team last week 76-56, as they shot a terrible 3-of-28 from three-point range and 22-of-55 from the field. They couldn’t get anything to go in the basket.
After the Michigan State loss, Illinois has been playing tremendous basketball, beating Purdue 63-37 and Wisconsin 71-70. That Michigan State loss really seems like it made Illinois look itself in the mirror and made them correct some flaws.
The Illinois offense, before the Purdue game, was usually stagnant against other good power-five teams. They would go through six-minute droughts, and players would not move around as much when they didn’t have the ball.