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How Illinois Basketball Can Attack Nebraska’s Elite Rim-Denial Defense

The Illini can crack the Huskers’ elite rim defense by driving with purpose and turning paint pressure into clean, inside-out threes
Pranav Hegde|
Dec 9, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Kylan Boswell (4) drives to the basket as Ohio State Buckeyes guard John Mobley Jr. (0) defends during the first half Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
Dec 9, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Kylan Boswell (4) drives to the basket as Ohio State Buckeyes guard John Mobley Jr. (0) defends during the first half Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

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Illinois Fighting IlliniNebraska Cornhuskers

No. 13 Illinois (8-2, 1-0 Big Ten) hosts No. 23 Nebraska (10-0, 1-0 Big Ten) on Saturday (3 p.m. CT, Peacock) in a matchup that, not long ago, Illini fans would have casually skimmed past on the schedule, mentally chalking it up as a win. The Cornhuskers used to represent one of the more forgiving stops in Big Ten play – competitive, maybe, but rarely intimidating.

That version of Nebraska appears long gone.

This new Nebraska? Mean. Disciplined. And the Cornhuskers are fresh off humiliating Wisconsin, a demolition that served as a loud reminder that this program isn’t just solid – it's dangerous. Nebraska basketball is a thing now, and it is armed with one of the most suffocating defenses in the country.

The numbers back it up: According to Hoop-Explorer, Nebraska allows the fewest rim attempts in Division I basketball, with opponents taking a ridiculous 19 percent of their shots at the rim. That’s not just elite – that’s physics-defying. And it doesn’t stop there. Per Haslametrics, the Huskers also force opponents into settling on the farthest average shot proximity of any power-conference team at 2.288, meaning opponents aren’t just kept out of the paint – they’re basically pushed into another zip code.

When teams can’t get inside, they have no choice but to launch from deep. That’s why Nebraska gives up the third-highest rate of threes in the country. Opponents aren’t necessarily choosing to live behind the arc. Nebraska is shoving them out there.

So when the Huskers arrive at State Farm Center, Illinois won’t simply see a team on the rise – they will see a defense that forces opponents to rethink everything they do. Coach Fred Hoiberg’s undefeated squad is connected, confident and coming off its most dominant performance of the season. If the Illini want to stop that momentum, they’ll have to match Nebraska’s discipline and outthink a defense that refuses to break.

Here are the three ways the Illini can attack the Husker defense:

1. Win the paint without scoring in the paint

It sounds backwards, but it’s not wrong: Illinois needs to attack the paint without expecting to finish in the paint. Nebraska denies layups better than anyone in the country, but only because the Huskers react so decisively when opponents get downhill. Strong drives will force multiple Huskers to collapse, and that’s where the Illini's real advantage lies.

The goal is simple: touch the paint, collapse the defense, kick it out and make Nebraska scramble. When the Illini drive to create rather than to score, they break the Huskers' defensive rhythm and generate the wide-open threes Nebraska hopes they never take. Paint touches = defensive panic buttons.

2. Threes are the answer, but shot quality matters

Illinois absolutely has to shoot threes in this matchup – lots of them – but the quality matters. Nebraska’s system tries to funnel teams into tough pull-up threes or quick-trigger shots before the defense rotates. Illinois must resist that temptation.

The Illini need rhythm threes. Extra-pass threes. Drive-and-kick threes. Skip-pass threes after Nebraska sinks too deep. These are the shots that punish the Huskers' strengths instead of feeding into them. If Illinois keeps the ball moving and avoids early-clock hero shots, NU's rim denial suddenly becomes a weakness instead of a weapon.

3. Play with pace before Nebraska builds the wall

Nebraska's paint defense can be terrifying when it gets set up in the half court – which means Illinois should do everything in its power to avoid confronting it at all. Early offense is the great equalizer. Push off rebounds, push after makes, push whenever Nebraska is jogging back and not yet forming the Great Wall of Lincoln.

In transition or semi-transition, the paint isn’t as crowded and kick-out threes appear before Nebraska sinks into its usual fortress. Illinois has the personnel to run, and this is the matchup where tempo becomes a strategic weapon, not just a style preference.

The bottom line

Nebraska will not be giving Illinois a layup parade. But the Illini don’t need to win at the rim to win the game. They need to own the paint as a trigger point, move the ball with purpose and generate the high-quality threes that punish Nebraska’s system. Do that, and Illinois has not just a chance, but a real formula to dismantle the nation’s most stubborn rim-denial defense.

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Pranav Hegde
PRANAV HEGDE

Primarily covers Illinois football, basketball and golf, with an emphasis on news, analysis and features. Hegde, an electrical engineering student at Illinois with an affinity for sports writing, has been writing for On SI since April 2025. He can be followed and reached on Instagram @pranavhegde__.

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