Illinois 62, Iowa 54

Although I again could not watch this game (curse the Big Ten Network!), the statistics are telling. Illinois returned to its hot-shooting ways (in the second half, at least) and held on for a needed, if unimpressive victory. Down 25-22 at the half and shooting 36%, the Illini shot 65% in the second half and outscored Iowa 40-29 over the last 20 minutes. And for this team, good shooting almost always means a victory. Crucially, Illinois also outrebounded Iowa 35-22 and drew 16 free throw attempts to Iowa's 4. Iowa is an even worse rebounding team than Illinois (311th in the country in offensive rebound percentage) so I wouldn't assume that Illinois has found their rebounding mojo yet.

Plus-minus chart:

Player	P/M	Minutes
Demetri McCamey	+9	33
Trent Meacham	+7	33
Chester Frazier	+10	36
Mike Davis	+4	30
Mike Tisdale	+10	24
Calvin Brock	+5	18
Dominique Keller	+0	8
Jeff Jordan	-5	4
Alex Legion	0	5

The difference here is largely between the starters and the bench although Calvin Brock did have a higher plus-minus than Mike Davis in this game. Mike Tisdale was +10 in just 24 minutes, continuing his recent trend of being very effective but seeing somewhat limited minutes. I am about ready to give up on Alex Legion - at least for this season anyways. It's obviously tough to join a team mid-season, especially a team clicking as well as Illinois was. It's probably tougher to have your minutes yanked around while being in theory, the most talented player on the team. Yet I can't blame Bruce Weber for being stingy with Legion's minutes considering he's shooting .315 from the field and .256 from 3 and hasn't made any sort of positive contribution in plus-minus when he's been on the floor.

Looking ahead to this week's games, they will be decisive in determining if Illinois is a Big Ten contender or just a middling team. According to the Pomeroy Ratings, Illinois has a 46% chance of beating Wisconsin on the road and a 52% chance of beating Purdue at home. Subjectively, I think Illinois is significantly more likely to defeat Purdue given that they are winning by 15.8 points per game at home in Big 10 play, yet losing by 8.8 points per game on the road. Still, given their performances over the last week, they will have to fight to avoid an 0-2 week and falling into Big 10 play. A 1-1 split or a 2-0 week will go a long way towards solidifying an NCAA Tournament berth.