Illinois Basketball falls to 19 in the AP Poll

On Monday’s AP Poll rankings, Illinois basketball fell six total spots to number 19. The Illini beat the Penn State Nittany Lions at home, however, fell to the USC Trojans on Saturday morning 72-82. The Trojans outplayed the Illini and gave them a quad-three loss per the NET rankings. Now sitting at 4-2, Illinois basketball has some ground to make up to catch up to Michigan and Michigan State toward the top of the Big Ten rankings. Unfortunately, their star point guard, Kasparas Jakucionis remains sidelined and “questionable” for the road game on Tuesday vs Indiana.

Though they handled Penn State easily, the Illini are a completely different team without their likely lottery-pick point guard. Jakucionis seems close to returning as he has dressed for the past two games. However, until Jakucionis returns, the Illini have a lot to work on if they want to stay in the Big Ten Title race.

What’s next?

Illinois basketball heads to Bloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers will also be hungry for a win as they most recently lost by 25 points to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Head coach Mike Woodson has drawn ire throughout the entire season and it sounds like the Hoosier fanbase may not be able to stomach one more loss. However, the Illini desperately need this win to get back on track from Saturday’s loss. Losing two in a row and then heading into East Lansing to take on Tom Izzo and Michigan State may be as tall a task as any.

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