In Reply to: wbb: nice article about the game from the Illinois perspective posted by TheHappyBurgermeister on January 29, 2026 at 15:46:03
The Good
Well, we won. 6 players in double figures. 6 points in 54 seconds by Kiki in the last 1:28 of the game to get to double figures and ice the game. Won the 1st quarter 23-16 with Lauren playing only 4 minutes. Won 2nd quarter 22-15 with Lauren playing ZERO minutes. For the half we shot 55.2% (16-29, 1-6 from 3 meaning 65.2% from 2) while Illinois (9-30, 2-7 from 3) was 30%. Came into the game shooting 77.4% from the FT line as a team, went 23-27 (85.2%) with Lauren (coming in at 64.5%) going 7-9 (77.8%).
The bad
3rd quarter offense at 11 points on 4 of 12 from the field with Lauren (3-9) taking 9 of the 12. We lost the turnover battle 13-9 despite both of us coming in averaging 12.9 per game and us winning the 1st half 6-7. We lost the steals battle 4-6 despite coming in with an 8.9 to 7.1 average advantage. We lost the 2nd half 36-35. Lauren was 8-20 from the field for the game. Winning margin of 13 in a game we were favored by 23.5 (although Torvik had us favored by 20.1 and Massey had us by 13.5). At home on 1/18 Illinois beat Northwestern by 3. Northwestern's next game was at home on 1/25 against us and we won by 34. On 1/8 Illinois lost at Nebraska by 5. Three days later we went to Nebraska and won by 22. How was this game competitive?
The ugly
1 for 10 from 3. Combine that with the 0-9 2nd half at Northwestern we are shooting 5% behind the arc over the last 6 quarters. Even throwing in our 4 for 8 first half against Northwestern we are 5 for 27 (18.5%) this road trip.
Massey had sc a 2.5 favorite over Iowa tonight. sc won 81-69 and never trailed. We are now alone atop the conference.
Massey has us a 9.5 favorite over Iowa on Sunday.