The Citadel @ Illinois preview
State Farm Center
Illinois looks to stay unbeaten at home when it welcomes The Citadel on Wednesday night. The Fighting Illini bounced back from a 90-69 loss to No. 14 Arizona on Nov. 10 with a hard-fought 66-53 victory against Hawaii on Monday to improve to 8-0 all-time against the Rainbow Warriors, and they hope to record their third straight home victory when they meet the Bulldogs for the first time in program history.
Turnovers continue to be a problem for the Fighting Illini, who are averaging 19 per game, after coughing the ball up 17 times against Hawaii and they hope to take better care of the ball against The Citadel, which has dropped their last nine games to major conference opponents since 2016-17. "You can't turn the ball over like we did in the first half," Illinois coach Brad Underwood told reporters. "There's no such thing as a bad win but it wasn't pretty by any stretch." Illinois is 22-3 in its last 25 non-conference home games since the 2016-17 campaign, and aims to knock off a Southern Conference opponent for the second consecutive season, following a 73-55 victory against East Tennessee State on Dec. 15, 2018. The Citadel snapped a three-game losing skid by holding off Southeast Missouri State 74-69 on Tuesday, and hope to post back-to-back road victories for the first time since Nov. 2018.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
ABOUT THE CITADEL (1-3): Kaelon Harris scored 10 of his team-high 20 points from the free throw line and added 12 rebounds to notch his second double-double of the season in the win over Southeast Missouri State. Kaiden Rice drained four 3-pointers en route to 20 points while Tyson Batiste flirted with his first career double-double as he dished out 11 assists and corralled nine rebounds against the Redhawks. Eddie Davis and Fletcher Abee each tallied eight points as the Bulldogs held Southeast Missouri State to 19-percent shooting from 3-point range.
ABOUT ILLINOIS (3-1): Kofi Cockburn, who was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Nov.11, continued the stellar start to his college career as he scored 15 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in the win against Hawaii to register his third double-double in four games. Trent Frazier tallied 13 points and Giorgi Bezhanishvili added 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists against the Rainbow Warriors. Ayo Dosunmu was limited to nine points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field and committed four turnovers while Andres Feliz finished with seven points, eight rebounds and five assists.
TIP-INS
1. Illinois has outrebounded its opponents 177-108 through its first four games.
2. Cockburn is averaging 14.3 points and 11.5 rebounds per contest.
3. The Fighting Illini play six of their next seven games at home.
PREDICTION: Illinois 88, The Citadel 61