Digging deeper on Illinois' offense

Anytime a team shoots so much better with the same cast of characters, there is reason to be skeptical, and I do think Illinois has some reversion-to-the-mean in store. In fact, some has already happened, as the Illini have shot 26 percent on threes in their past two games, resulting in mediocre outputs against bad defenses. But, with a third of the season already in the books, we have to admit that at least some of this improvement is for real.

This Saturday's big matchup with Missouri seems to play to the strengths of the Illinois offense. The Tigers don't force turnovers (293rd nationally) and don't run opponents off the three-point line (239th nationally in 3PA/FGA), so the Illini should find themselves with plenty of good looks from deep. Missouri is very good at defending twos and not fouling, but those aren't really part of Illinois' game anyway. As will be the case all season, Illinois will be tough to beat when they are making threes, and an accurate night in St. Louis could keep the Illini unblemished.

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