There is an Illini basketball tonight! That’s it, that’s the blog. Just kidding, after having a week off to get into Ubben and work out some kinks in the first three games of the season, the Illini are back to take the court at the State Farm Center in Champaign. Coming into tonight, the Illini are 2-1 on the season with the only loss coming to #21 Arizona. If you had a way of getting the Pac-12 Network, or you listened to the game on WPXNs airwaves, the first half of that game was great. Trent got hot early in the contest and the spacing was great early. The Illini only trailed by one going coming out of the half. The Illini ended up losing the game 90-69.
With a recap of the last game, let’s focus on the task at hand, beating Hawaii at home tonight. Hawaii looks like this:
3-1 on the year thus far, 0-0 in the Big West. They are averaging 73.8 PPG to the Illini 76.7. The Rainbow Warrior’s are long, quick, and athletic much like the rest of the Illini opponents this season. This is the first road game for UH this season, while the Illini are returning from a two-game trip in the desert with a week off. This matchup tonight is the first of two non-conference road games for the Rainbow Warriors. Another important nugget for the Rainbow Warriors is their head coach Eran Ganot is on medical leave to start the season, Chris Gerlufsen is filling in until he returns to the team. After the game tonight UH, will go back home for three straight games at home beginning on the 24th.
Who to Watch:
Senior PG Eddie Stansbury has three straight games of 20+ that includes a career-high with 28 in UH’s win over Portland this past Friday.
For the Illini to win tonight, with how close the PPG average is, they need to limit turnovers, not only do they need limit turnovers, the Illini need to limit the scoring runs that they give up. Other Illini stats:
After the full week off last week, the Illini have a five-game homestand beginning tonight, they play seven of their next eight at home, this is really a chance to take a leap into the win column before Big Ten play opens up on January 5. Illinois also leads the nation in offensive rebound rate(44.4%) and ranks fourth in the NCAA in rebound margin at +17.
Notable: Kofi Cockburn won the honors of Big Ten Freshman of the Week week before last, after averaging 14.0 PPG and 10.7 RPG. If the Illini get that production night in and night out, that is a tough stat to beat.
Cale’s Keys:
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Smash the Turnover bug- Get rid of that little pest and limit the opponent’s scoring runs throughout the game.
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Feed Trent: If Trent trey’s a couple early, keep feeding him unlike what happened against Arizona. If he’s hot early, feed him.
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Space the floor: If Girogi B can start hitting 15 feet extended like he has shown that he can do this season that limits the amount of traffic that is clogging the lane on the offensive end.
I will be back after the game with a post-game blog, and a post-game pod, You can find the pregame podcast under the “Podcast” tab on the website linked here: https://wpxnradio.com/podcasts/wpxn-intro-pod
As always be sure to follow along with us on our social media. Our website: https://wpxnradio.com/ on Twitter at 1049WPXN, on Facebook at 104.9 WPXN and download our app in the Google Play or Apple App stores.
