Illinois Basketball: 3 takeaways in Fighting Illini road win over Michigan
By Ryan Kay
The Fighting Illini won even though the stats say otherwise
Illinois only made four out of 11 three-point attempts, they shot below 80% from the free throw line, and they committed 19 fouls against the Wolverines. The Fighting Illini also lost key statistical battles against the Wolverines. They had 34 rebounds compared to Michigan’s 37, Illinois committed 8 turnovers compared to their two turnovers, and the Wolverines had a combined total of 6 blocks/steals compared to the Fighting Illini’s one. However, Illinois made the key defensive stops when needed and made the clutch offensive plays when necessary.
Statistics in all sports and in particular basketball gets more analyzed and attention through the study of analytics and metrics. It is well known that analytics and statistical analysis is becoming an integral part of how the coaching staff and college basketball programs prepare themselves to be successful on the court. However, sometimes like in this instance, the team that is able to overcome obstacles and endure the ups and downs of the game is the team that usually wins regardless of what the analytics show.
Illinois kept on pushing even though their three-pointers weren’t falling in the 2nd half or that they were committing too many fouls and turning the ball over on offense. They showed grit and heart this game and that helped them greatly in accomplishing the objective which was to win the game and to be solely in possession of 1st play in arguably the best conference in all of college basketball.