The Illinois basketball team hit a rough patch just five games into the season.
They are now on a three-game losing streak that no one is quite sure when it will end.
North Carolina State is the next opponent for this Illini team in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. This is going to be a tough game.
I would give Illinois a 35-percent chance at winning this game. Illinois needs a victory and there is only one game that they haven’t been competitive in and that was against West Virginia.
The Wolfpack have played a fairly easy schedule, as well, with their only tough game being a loss to No. 22 Creighton by 18 points.
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The following game is on December 3 when the Illini take on VCU. This will be a tough game considering VCU is good year in and year out.
I give Illinois a 28-percent chance at winning this game because VCU still has some decent talent left over from the Shaka Smart era.
This Rams team has played well this season. They have wins over St. John’s and LSU, and their only loss came against No. 20 Baylor by eight points.
And that brings the Illini to the next game against IUPUI. This is on December 6 and it should be the game where Illinois is most likely to break their losing streak.
Illinois has a lot more talent than the Jaguars and this should prevail when it comes time to play. I give the Illini an 85-percent chance to win this game.
IUPUI only has two wins on the season and they were against Eastern Michigan and Howard. They do have a good loss and that was at Michigan by only 12 points.
I am curious if the Jaguars can keep this game close until Illinois finally pulls away late.
Overall, with the way the Illini are playing, it looks like they have a decent chance to go on a five game losing streak which will eventually be snapped by IUPUI.
Just purely based on how Illinois is playing right now, this is the most likely outcome.
Hopefully, I am wrong and they beat the Wolfpack and/or Rams along with the Jaguars. This would be great and actually would help the season.
But things are going to have to change for that to happen. There needs to be some lineup adjustments or the Illini will continue to forge ahead into mediocrity.
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