Illini now

Illinois Scored 67 Points - Now for the Bad News: 5 Takeaways From Duke’s Blowout Win

Illinois had a rough night in a 110-67 loss to Duke in Madison Square Garden. Here are five key takeaways from the Blue Devils' statement win over the Illini.

Pete Fiutak

Feb 22, 2025; New York, NY, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Cooper Flagg (2) drives past Illinois Fighting Illini forward Ben Humrichous (3) in the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Feb 22, 2025; New York, NY, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Cooper Flagg (2) drives past Illinois Fighting Illini forward Ben Humrichous (3) in the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
In this story:

5. Illinois Lost A Regular Season College Basketball Game

Spin control time.

Illinois lost a regular season college basketball game. That's it. No big whoop.

It doesn't matter if it was by three or 43. It doesn't matter if it was a good fight, or if the team played like a bag of warm pudding. The Illini are in the NCAA Tournament, everyone will start fresh, and this will all be a blip with two wins on the first weekend of the fun.

Oh sure, there are a few things to work on - I'm trying here - but, yes, it was a bad day, Duke is probably the best team in college basketball, the Illini are coming off two rough games against elite Michigan State and Wisconsin teams, and ...

Okay, enough with the everyone-gets-a-trophy talk.

4. Illinois Didn't Do What Illinois Does Well

Here's the most disappointing aspect about how all of this went down.

Duke destroyed the Illini's strengths.

For all of the problems and issues lately, Illinois came into this with the No. 1 scoring offense in the Big Ten. Not to conference-shame, but it's not like the Illini are playing in the MAC.

But the offense had no answers or ideas against Duke.

Illinois second in the Big Ten in defense and 36th in the nation overall. Duke hit 56% of its shots and moved the ball around like the Illini had four guys on the court.

And then there was the biggest problem. Illinois is No. 1 in the country in defensive rebounds, second in rebounding margin and total boards, and Duke won the battle on the glass by 14. Illinois is 17-1 when giving up fewer than 35 rebounds, it hadn't allowed 40 all year, and Duke grabbed 44. That's why ...

3. The Illini Really Will Miss Morez Johnson

Illinois still has very big, very strong rebounders.

For all of the Cooper Flagg talk, Kasparas Jakucionis is an elite NBA prospect, too. He got seven rebounds. but Tomislav Ivisic came up with a mere three - over five below his average.

The Illini lost freshman Morez Johnson for the season to a broken wrist. The 255-pounder was just getting started as a banger who averaged 6.6 rebounds per game, and without him, the team's toughness on the glass didn't make the trip to New York City.

2. Illinois Made Two More Three-Point Shots Than You Did

To take a trip back into the spin room, Illinois lost control of this game in a hurry, and it wasn't necessarily because of anything specific Duke did defensively.

The Illini couldn't buy a bucket at all from the outside hitting just 2-of-26 shots. This has to clear up and improve fast.

No one in the the Big Ten shoots more threes than Illinois, and usually it's okay because the team is so good on the glass. When you're averaging over 13 offensive boards per game, go ahead and fire away and let the big guys clean up the mess.

But this is now the eighth time in the last 11 games that the Illinois haven't been able to make 30% of their shots from the outside, and it's not a shock that the team is now 3-9 when making fewer than 27% from three. It's 14-1 when it gets to that mark or better.

By the way, Duke isn't all that great at guarding the three, and neither is ...

1. Illinois, Beat Iowa - Please

Again, these games don't really matter other than serving as upscale practices for the real thing in mid-March. However, after the collapse against Michigan State, the bad showing against Wisconsin, the injury to Johnson, and now whatever this was, Illinois could desperately use a little bit of happy time.

Iowa is totally miserable at guarding the three, even worse at coming up with rebounds, and Illinois needs to have a get-right performance by being night-and-day better in both areas.

No pressure, but after hosting the Hawkeyes, things aren't about to ease up with a trip to Michigan and a home date against Purdue to close out the regular season.

Published
Pete Fiutak
PETE FIUTAK

Home/Basketball