Nebraska at Illinois: Three In The Key Preview & Prediction

After nearly a week off, Illinois will try to regain its winning ways at home against a Nebraska squad near the bottom of the Big Ten Conference.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois leading scorer Ayo Dosunmu was asked Sunday how close he felt to completely healthy and the sophomore rightfully acknowledged that likely nobody who plays a significant number of minutes already is felling "100 percent".

“That’s not really bothering me right now because I know the Big Ten season towards the end of this season, really no one’s really 100 percent,” Dosunmu said. “But I know I’m 200 percent locked in mentally, so that’s all that matters.”

After his return following his injury against Michigan State in the Illini's last home game, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood acknowledged his star guard was honestly tired after his 24-point performance at Penn State last week. 

“A couple of days off, I think it came at a pretty good time. It’s great for Ayo,” Underwood said. “Not only was he a little bit sore, he found out how quickly you get out of shape. He was pretty tired at the end of that game. A couple of days off and continued recovery for him.”

As Illinois hosts a Nebraska squad currently on an 11-game losing streak and a 16-game losing streak in road games, it may be possible for the Illini to get Dosunmu some rest in this game and the road game at Northwestern before it finishes with a trio of NCAA Tournament contenders (Indiana, at Ohio State and Iowa).

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Game 27: Nebraska at Illinois

Date/Time/Place: Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2020: 7 p.m. CST, State Farm Center, Champaign, Ill.

Capacity: 15,544

Records: Illinois 17-9, 9-6 in Big Ten; 12-21, 7-13 in Big Ten Conference in 2018-19. Nebraska 7-19, 2-13 in Big Ten; 19-17, 6-14 in Big Ten Conference in 2018-19.

Line: Illinois by 14

Series notes: Illinois leads 15-8 in the all-time series. Illinois is 8-6 against the Cornhuskers since Nebraksa joined the Big Ten and Monday’s game is the only regular-season meeting between the two teams. Nebraska has won only once in the State Farm Center, a 78-67 win in 2016. Prior to Nebraska joining the conference in 2011-12, the Huskers and Illini had played only once since 1976 - a 100-73 Nebraska victory in the 1990 San Juan Shootout.

TV: BTN - Dave Revsine (PBP), Stephen Bardo (Analyst)

Radio (Illinois): Brian Barnhart (PBP), Doug Altenberger (analyst) - The broadcast can be heard live on TuneIn online radio, Sirius/XM 372 and at FightingIllini.com.

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Before every game of the 2019-20 season, we take a look at three things you’ll want to watch for after the tip.

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1) Can Trent Frazier get back on track with his shooting?

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said Sunday he isn't concerned about the recent shooting slump of junior guard Trent Frazier. 

“Trent makes the hard ones,” Underwood said. “He misses kinda some of the easier ones sometimes. We want him to take hard ones sometimes to get going.”

In his last four games, Frazier has connected on just six of 32 shots and made just two of 16 from three-point range and the Illini have lost three of those four contests. 

“I’m not worried about missed shots,” Frazier said. “I think I’m having an awesome year. I’m going to make balls. I’m not worried about it. I just have to continue to work hard, come in the gym and shoot a thousand balls like I do. Just keep doing the same thing. I’ll never change anything.”

Even as this team approaches the month of March, Underwood still believes it may just take one game, maybe against a team that is the worst defensively in the Big Ten Conference, to restart Frazier's career-long consistency of being able to make a proper percentage of outside shots. 

"He’s got a shooter’s mentality. He’s got the mentality that if he misses 10, he’s going to make the next 10. I love that about him. He’s playing the exact right way. He was tremendous the other night (at Penn State) on both ends of the court. When he does get going, there’s a completely different element, especially in transition, that we have.”

2) Haanif Cheatham vs. Da'Monte Williams

Cheatham, the lone active senior on the Husker roster, will make his 100th career start on Monday and comes into the home stretch of his college career playing solid basketball. Since suffering a calf injury against Iowa on Feb. 8, he is averaging 17.0 points per game on 56 percent shooting over the Huskers’ last three contests. In Nebraska's last game against Michigan State, Cheatham had five of the Huskers’ 11 steals, as Nebraska forced 22 MSU turnovers. We've documented how solid Williams is on the defensive end of the floor and with Cheatham at just 6-foot-5, he might be the perfect matchup for the Peoria native. Williams will need to stay out of foul trouble. 

3) Will Illinois be able to rest starters and significant contributors? 

If Illinois can get this win, they'll be in a five-way tie for second place in the Big Ten Conference standings with games at Northwestern and Ohio State along with Indiana and Iowa still on the schedule. You would think that the Illini could get significant of load management bench time in this game but Nebraska has been a pain for top Big Ten contenders like Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers. 

Prediction: Illinois 75, Nebraska 65