Could Illinois Basketball Be Headed for a Six-Game Losing Skid?

One month ago, it was virtually impossible to imagine a scenario like the tar pit Illinois finds itself currently mired in.

There had been a bit of muck along the way, sure: the coulda-woulda-shoulda overtime loss at Northwestern. A near-miss in a win at Washington. A dud of a home loss to USC.

But, generally speaking, the Illini were gaining steam and had come out the other side of guard Kasparas Jakucionis' two-game injury absence no worse for the wear. An 80-78 loss to Michigan State in East Lansing was as much confirmation of Illinois' potency as it was a mildly disappointing missed opportunity.

And here we are now. The Illini are 17-9 (9-7 Big Ten), losers of six of their past 11 games, without their best rebounder and a key defensive presence in Morez Johnson Jr. (broken wrist) and scheduled on Tuesday for a road date against a Wisconsin team it handled back in December but is now one of the hottest teams in college basketball.

Game day from the Badger State.

🆚 No. 11 Wisconsin
⏰ 7:30 p.m. CT
📍 Madison, Wis.
📺 FS1 pic.twitter.com/1OnTZ7n1gh
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) February 18, 2025

The No. 11 Badgers (20-5, 10-4), frankly, are the least of Illinois' worries. The Illini have endured injury, illness and shooting inconsistency, but the trouble runs deeper than a streak of bad luck. More disconcerting even than a handful of janky losses (after USC, Nebraska and Rutgers were similar sore thumbs) is their inability – or unwillingness – to adjust.

Forget three-pointers, offensive design or a preferred playing style. This isn't about tweaking a system or reconsidering a philosophy. It's Charlie Brown going back to Lucy for his hundredth run at kicking that football. It's spiteful consistency. It's tenacity transformed into obstinance, and aggressiveness turned into low IQ.

After seemingly unlocking the cheat code against Minnesota, the Illini nearly cheated themselves out of a quality win against UCLA, falling back on bad habits and re-taking the paths of least resistance. Illini coach Brad Underwood has been accused of inflexibility at times in the past (not to mention the present), and there's some smoke there. But game awareness, recognition and adaptability are all on the players as well. The Illini, quite simply, have too often failed to read the room.

It gets no easier from here. John Tonje and Bucky are a house afire. Duke is, well ... Duke. Iowa at home seems at the moment like a respite, but how far down the rabbit hole will Illinois have tumbled by then? At Michigan and then a regular-season finale against Purdue at State Farm Center? Don't get us started.

A tectonic shift in mentality is needed in Champaign – and, ominously, these things don't change at the flip of the switch. The Illini are staring down the barrel of a six-game losing streak to end the regular season, and at this stage, we're past talking hypotheticals. Without a far greater collective in-the-moment focus and more purposeful decision-making by all, Illinois won't beat Iowa, let alone the Goliaths remaining on the schedule.

Could Illinois Basketball Be Headed for a Six-Game Losing Skid?

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Illinois Basketball's Morez Johnson Jr. Sidelined by Broken Wrist

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