Busting Brackets
Fansided

Illinois Basketball: Takeaways from Illini’s failed comeback effort against Miami

By Michael Walton

EAST LANSING, MI - FEBRUARY 20: Trent Frazier #1 of the Illinois Fighting Illini during a game against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on February 20, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - FEBRUARY 20: Trent Frazier #1 of the Illinois Fighting Illini during a game against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on February 20, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 4
Next
Illinois basketball
Illinois head coach Brad Underwood. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Illinois Basketball took a tough blow as they fell 81-79 to the Miami Hurricanes in Champaign. Monday represented the first home loss for the Fighting Illini this season.

Illinois Basketball had a chance to snag an awesome comeback victory, but instead, Miami pulled out a down to the wire win in Champaign. The Fighting Illini came into Monday’s matchup with the ‘Canes with a 6-1 record. Illinois was favored by much as nine points by some sportsbooks who like most pundits (this writer included) expected the Illini to come out with a much better effort at home, where they were 5-0 before Monday’s loss.

Brad Underwood‘s squad did the exact opposite thing of coming out with good effort in Champaign. The Miami Hurricanes came out fired up, racing out to an early 23-7 lead behind a 20-2 run in which the Fighting Illini didn’t appear to have a clear offensive identity, struggling to find anything in the way of a good look. Illinois would go into the half down 50-31, with their offense looking lifeless and their defense allowing Miami to shoot 66.7%.

In the second half, the momentum started to shift gradually in the favor of Illinois basketball. It would appear Underwood told his squad to stick with their gameplan at the half and eventually the inside presence of Kofi Cockburn and the big-play ability of Ayo Dosunmu started to pay dividends.

Cockburn and Dosunmu brought Illinois within 10 points, and later on, a steal and layup by Dosunmu would bring the Fighting Illini within 5. Underwood’s squad went to get within one point of Miami before a crucial turnover by Dosunmu all but sealed the win for the Hurricanes.

Usually, one would say no shame in losing by 2 points to an ACC team…but this is a Miami team that is 82nd in KenPom, came in with 3 losses, and yet they were up by 19 at halftime on Illinois (45th in KenPom). What takeaways come from this humbling loss for the Fighting Illini?

Home/Illinois Fighting Illini