Illinois basketball: Upcoming Opponent Alabama falls to Purdue

Illinois basketball is gearing up to play the Alabama Crimson Tide on Wednesday, November 20th. Right now, the Crimson Tide are the second-ranked team in the country and are led by quality veterans of college basketball like Mark Sears, Cliff Omoruyi, and Grant Nelson. Though the transitive property never works in sports, it was pretty notable that the Crimson Tide fell to the Purdue Boilermakers, 87-78.  The Crimson Tide fought tooth and nail to take a game from the Mackey Arena crowd, however, Purdue simply is another animal at home. The Boilermakers out-hustled and out-executed Alabama down the stretch and pulled away late. Illinois basketball will be the next matchup for Alabama down in Birmingham.

What this means for the Illini.

The biggest takeaway from watching the game is that Alabama is an old team that plays solid, disciplined ball. In fact, they even outrebounded Purdue 37-35. The Crimson Tide shot 29 total threes and plays a pretty similar up-tempo style that Illinois basketball plays. Of note, Mark Sears, Cliff Omoruyi, and Grant Nelson are all fifth-year players. This will serve as a stark contrast to the young Illini nucleus of Kasparas Jakucionis, Will Riley, and Kylan Boswell. Losing a close game at Mackey Arena is no knock, and Alabama will still likely be ranked in the top 10. Win or loss, Alabama serves as an outstanding barometer of where this young Illini nucleus is after one month of the season.

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