16. Illinois (11-3)
Despite a few tough efforts earlier in the season, Illinois still sits in a pretty solid position, especially in most of the metrics. We’re not going to wax poetic on a KenPom rating in early January, but Illinois does have nice wins over Tennessee and Texas Tech and played varying parts of their schedule at least than full strength. Brad Underwood hopes his team gets and stays healthy for the long haul, especially with Big Ten play getting underway in earnest.
The Illini didn’t need all hands on deck on Monday, getting a 90-55 win over Southern to conclude nonconference play. Jake Davis actually led the scoring with 15 points off the bench in a balanced and easy win. The situation was a little tougher Sunday, but Illinois thrived in a 73-65 win at Penn State. Kylan Boswell led with 18 points while David Mirkovic added a double-double and the Illini got their second road win in conference play.
Thanks to that pre-Christmas stunner against Nebraska, Illinois is just 2-1 in the league standings but look the part of a top contender in a very talented Big Ten. The combination of homegrown and international flavor has created a pool of talent and this offense has really delivered at times this season. In the next seven days we’ll see this team just once and they likely won’t struggle too hard while hosting Rutgers.