Illinois Basketball: Round One Breakdown

Round One

Illinois is the #2 overall seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Which, tips off on Wednesday (10/13) in Minneapolis Minnesota at the Target Center. The bracket for the 2024 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament can be seen below

Bracket Credit- Big Ten Network

Obviously, Illinois Basketball has two pending options based on Thursdays #10 – #7 seed matchup. Either the Fighting Illini will run it back versus Iowa, and take on Fran’s squad for a third time, or face Ohio State. Who, much like Iowa, is also fighting hard for their chance to make it into the NCAA tournament bubble. Both teams will likely need to win Multiple games, to get in, and Illinois is first up on the checklist.

The Hawkeyes

Despite the loss to Illinois on Sunday, the Hawkeyes won 4 of their last 6 games of the regular season. They possess one of the best offenses in the nation, and when Peyton Sandfort, Tony Perkins and the rest of the Hawkeye sharpshooters are on, they are deadly. Illinois had one of their better defensive efforts in recent weeks vs Iowa on Sunday. Frankly, the shooters for the Hawks were ice cold as well. The Hawkeyes went 33% from deep, and 35% from the floor. Not a typical night for McCaffery’s team by any means. The rivals from Iowa City may have a big opportunity vs Illinois if they get through OSU. Once again, in a position to potentially claw their way into the NCAA tourney, with a desperately needed win over the Illini.

The Buckeyes

The #10 seeded Buckeyes are in a pretty similar position as Iowa. Gotta’ win to get in. Ohio State finished off their regular season 19-12, and went on a surprising run to put themselves in tournament bubble talks. The Buckeyes fired Head Coach Chris Holtmann mid-season, and the path forward was uncertain. Proceeding the takeover of interim Head Coach Jake Diebler, the Buckeyes have won 5 of their last 6 games of the schedule. One of those wins including #2 Purdue, who is the current top seed of the Big Ten Tournament. On January 20th, Underwoods squad was able to take down Ohio State 85-75 in Columbus. The Illini were red HOT a cool January day, shooting 52% from the floor. Shannon and Domask went off for 23 a piece in big games for the Illinois Basketball leaders. Not to mention 13 on night for Sophomore Ty Rodgers. As always, desperation and urgency can mean as much as anything in March. The Buckeyes certainly have a chip on their shoulder, and similar to Iowa, a win over Illinois could be their ticket