Illinois Basketball: 3 keys for Illini beating Duke in Big Ten/ACC Challenge
By Adam Childs
The Illinois basketball team heads to Duke in the premier game of the 2020 Big Ten/ACC Challenge. What does the Illini have to do to come out with a win?
The Big Ten/ACC Challenge is always a great early season event for the college basketball world and fortunately, we are still going to be able to have it in this weird 2020 season.
The Illini head to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on the Duke Blue Devils in what is the best game on the schedule. There are a bunch of good matchups, but this matchup is one that many have looked forward to.
Illinois is coming off a tough loss to a great Baylor team, while the Blue Devils look to rebound from a home loss to Michigan State in the Champions Classic.
Duke has won eight straight in the Challenge, while the Illini have lost three straight. It is no surprise that Illinois heads to Duke as it seems the Blue Devils are always playing at home in this event. The Blue Devils have played 13 of their 21 games at home or on a neutral site.
But this is not going to be a normal road game as the Cameron Crazies will not be allowed in and while Tom Izzo and the Spartans won’t put an asterisk by their win, it does make for a different game.
This will be the Illini’s first true road game of the year and is a big test to see if they actually belong among the elite. They have looked very good early but struggled against Ohio and then couldn’t quite keep up against Baylor.
So what do they need to do to get a big win at Duke on Tuesday? We take a look at three keys to the game for Illinois.