Among the top teams playing in college basketball on Tuesday night was Illinois Basketball, ranked No. 3 in the nation. They played a true road game against top-20 Texas Tech. Unfortunately for the Illini, things got off to a bad start, trailing by 20 points at the half.
Credit to Illinois, they managed to climb back in the second half to make it a two-possession game late. But they ran out of time in the end, losing 84-78 for their first loss of the season. Here’s a look at the biggest takeaways of the game from the Illini’s side.
1. Stefan Vaaks struggles on both ends
Vaaks was a top-tier transfer pickup in the offseason as the best shooter in the Big East as a freshman. Unfortunately, his shot didn’t get going on Tuesday night, going 2/10 from deep off the bench. He also missed four three throws and was torched on the defensive end, part of the reason why they got into that big of a hole early. Against ranked competition, Illinois needs Vaaks to step up while David Mirkovic is out. He just wasn’t able to do that versus the Red Raiders.
2. Overall shooting issues
Illinois ranks top-10 nationally in three-point attempts to this point at nearly 40 a game. But when they’re not falling, it’s an issue. Against Texas Tech, the Illini went 10/34 from deep, just 5/28 outside of Quentin Coleman. Again, without Mirkovic scoring inside, the three-ball will be a key part of their offense and it just didn’t go their way.
3. Quentin Coleman a clear star in the making
Speaking of Coleman, he was a bright spot for the team, producing 19 points, five rebounds and four assists, shooting 5/6 from deep. The five-star freshman is putting up 17 ppg and 6.0 rpg and has easily been one of the top first-year players in the country. While he’s not playing at the same level as last year’s star Keaton Wagler, Coleman is becoming a likely one-and-done future pro star as well.
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