Illini Cruise Against Rutgers for 4th Straight Win

#16 Illinois hosted one of the weakest teams in the conference last night for a Thursday Night Big Ten matchup. Rutgers has experienced an extremely disappointing season, and the Illini contributed to it further last night with an 81-55 victory. After Rutgers hit a three on the first possession of the game, Illinois dominated from there on and used a 20-0 run over the final 8 minutes of the first half to put Rutgers out of their misery early. A strong defensive first half from Illinois held Rutgers to just 16 points at the break. Rutgers kept falling into the trap that the Illini's drop coverage laid out: long contested two-point attempts. The Scarlet Knights were launching tough twos all night and got nothing easy, while Illinois only scored at the rim or beyond the three-point line. The second half was a little sloppy at times for Illinois, and I contribute that to the quick turnaround that's ahead and the game being all but over at half.

Here is the shot chart from last night:

Illinois-Rutgers Shot Chart, Graphic by ESPN

It was a balanced attack tonight, as many Illini made key contributions. Jake Davis hit 4 first half threes and was even able to get a quiet State Farm Center to its feet. Keaton Wagler, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week, was steady all night and hit couple difficult and-ones. Andrej Stojakovic was the team's leading rebounder and was phenomenal in transition. Stojakovic received high praise from Coach Underwood in his postgame presser, comparing Andrej to the likes of Illini legends Ayo Dosunmu and Terrence Shannon Jr. in transition. While being held to a 2/8 night on the floor, freshman David Mirkovic made his presence felt on the glass and as a passer. If you haven't noticed by now, I challenge you to admire the phenomenal shot fake Mirkovic has in his bag. David continues to effectively create a driving lane for himself with such a simple shot fake, and it never fails to work. The biggest sign of encouragement from an individual perspective was the play of Tomislav Ivisic. Tomi has been criticized from the Illini Faithful for poor play recently, and while it was not a perfect game, Tomi looked like he was in a much better rhythm and was more engaged all night. The 7'1 big man from Vodice, Croatia ended the night with 14 points on 5/10 shotting and 4 rebounds. It was evident that Illinois was trying to get Big T going, and I would say the Illini were successful in doing so. I hope this is something both Illinois and Tomislav can build upon in Iowa City this Sunday.

Overall, there isn't much to break down from this one. A good basketball team took care of business against an inferior one at home. Illinois seems to have turned a corner since the Nebraska loss, especially defensively. The Illini are now back in the top 20 in defensive efficiency on KenPom. It's a quick turnaround for the Illini, who head to Iowa City for a top 20 showdown against the Hawkeyes at 11 a.m. on Sunday. 12-3 (3-1) Illinois will look to pick up a nice road win against 12-3 (2-2) Iowa.