3 Keys for Michigan Basketball to beat Illinois

Michigan basketball takes on Illinois Sunday and here are three keys for the Wolverines to knock off the Fighting Illini. 

Even without head coach Juwan Howard on the sideline earlier this week, Michigan basketball defeated Rutgers on Wednesday and improved its NCAA Tournament position.

Yet, the Wolverines are far from having a berth clinched. They have 11 losses overall and I’ve said all along that they need to get 11 wins in Big Ten play.

With four games left, that means Michigan basketball needs to win two games and the next three are at home starting with Illinois on Sunday.

Illinois is 16th according to the Kenpom rankings and Michigan basketball is ranked 30th. The Wolverines are 9-7 in Big Ten play and Illinois is 12-5 and one game behind Purdue and Wisconsin in the race for the Big Ten title.

The Wolverines would love nothing more than to play spoiler and also notch another important win for their own NCAA hopes.

Here are three keys to making it happen.

DeVante Jones needs to be productive

Michigan basketball is 5-3 over the last eight games and one of the biggest reasons why is DeVante Jones who has averaged over 11 points and 5 assists, as well as barely over two turnovers per game in that stretch.

Jones struggled earlier this season but has continued to improve and he’s been as good as advertised down the stretch, meaning he was another hit in the transfer portal.

But over the past couple of seasons, Michigan has struggled against Illinois and one reason is that the Illini have been successful has been their ability to force the Wolverines’ point guards to try to score on ball screens.

Jones scored 17 points in the first matchup but it took him 16 shots to get there. He also took 16 shots in an 18-point game against Nebraska.

That’s not what Michigan needs on Sunday. It needs a performance like Northwestern (15 points, six shots), Purdue (13 points, seven shots), or something similar to that. In the past four games, Jones has scored in double figures and took fewer than 10 shots four times.

If he can do something like that on Sunday and distribute as much as he scores, Michigan will be in a much better position than the first meeting.