Illinois Basketball Victory Against FAU Looks Less Impressive

Illinois Basketball Victory Against FAU Looks Less Impressive

Illinois Basketball has completed its non-conference schedule. The Illini did quite well. They finished 10-2 through a particularly challenging non-conference state and held the leads in the second halves of both losses. Despite the major uncertainties going forward, this team sparked a great deal of hope in the Illinois fanbase. After an inconsistent and frustrating year, this veteran-led team looked together and consistently brought a full effort. It is a shame that the events surrounding Terrence Shannon Jr happened in general. Though of little importance, it is a shame that all of these hard-working veterans are on a team whose ceiling dropped due to actions out of their control.

Illinois Basketball’s best win is either Rutgers at Jersey Mike’s or against FAU at MSG. Rutgers continues to struggle which makes the win less impressive. In classic Illinois Basketball news, Florida Atlantic is starting to slip up as well.

Florida Atlantic stumbles

Before playing Illinois, Florida Atlantic stumbled at home against Bryant. That loss counts as a quad-four loss. They also went on to beat Texas A&M, Butler, Virginia Tech, and St. Bonaventure. After losing to Illinois, FAU sneaked a win over Arizona, a top-10 team in the country. That made Illinois Basketball’s win look much better. However, Florida Atlantic most recently lost to Florida Gulf Coast. That means that Florida Atlantic has 2 quad four losses. Despite their 5-1 record in the first two quadrants, FAU is bound to drop in the net rankings since a majority of their games are quad-four games in the weak AAC.

That means something for Illinois. If their star player is done for the year, Illinois may possibly struggle to pile up quad-one victories in a rather weaker Big Ten Conference. I have full faith in Brad Underwood and all the vets on this team, however, they could use a spurt of luck in what has been a terrible week for the program.

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