NCAA Basketball: Keegan Murray, UVA struggles among key takeaways

DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 19: Grayson Murphy #2 of the Belmont Bruins handles the ball during the first half against the Temple Owls in the First Four of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 19, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

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NCAA Basketball Andre Curbelo Illinois Fighting Illini (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Curbelo’s turnovers are costly

During the 2020-21 season fans at State Farm Center had the pleasure to watch an extremely talented guard in Ayo Dusunmu, but had the misfortune to witness him lead the team with over three turnovers per game. Some will point to his high usage percentage, some will overlook the turnovers in favor of the 20 points a night he scored, but his over-three turnovers per game still lingered during the waning seconds of a close game.

This season the fans will have an opportunity to enjoy second-year player Andre Curbelo, but the same issues will plague him. For all that Curbelo is worth to head coach Brad Underwood and the Fighting Illini – and he is worth a lot – the 6’1 point guard is averaging 4.5 turnovers per game. The most costly one was with three seconds left while down by one with Marquette as Curbelo tried to split the defense leading to Kur Kuath coming up with a loose ball for a steal.

Granted, Curbelo is not the lone offender when it comes to coughing up the ball for the Fighting Illini. After finishing tied for the second-most turnovers in the Big Ten at 13 per game, the Fighting Illini have the most turnovers this season in the Big Ten as they average over nineteen per game, for the eleventh most in the nation. With two players averaging over four per game and four averaging more than two, the Fighting Illini look like they will be hampered by this all season.

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