Three Instant Observations From Illinois Basketball's 75-66 Over Washington

Even good teams have the occasional bad game, and No. 9 Illinois offered the proof Thursday in Champaign. But what separates the best teams from the merely good is the ability to overcome those low-water moments and still grind out wins. Here again, the Illini were Exhibit A, slogging through a poor shooting night and an increasingly rare weak defensive performance to hold off Washington, 75-66, at the State Farm Center.

Illinois (18-3, 9-1 Big Ten) got off to a slow start, appearing sluggish in falling behind 7-0, and meandering through additional impotent stretches throughout the game. But Keaton Wagler again helped the Illini ride out the rough patches, following up his explosive 46-point outburst against Purdue with another gem – albeit scoring less than half as much (22 points).

The game marked Illinois' first in Big Ten competition in which it failed to win the rebounding battle (the teams had 34 rebounds apiece), and the Huskies' 44.8 percent shooting was, aside from Saturday's win at Purdue, the highest figure the Illini have allowed since their last loss, to Nebraska over a month ago. And did we mention the shooting? Try 42.9 percent on field goals and 62.5 percent on free throws.

And yet the beat went on. Illinois won its 10th game in a row, David Mirkovic (19 points and three three-pointers) gave Wagler the wingman he needed for the night, and the Illini got timely stops, never allowing the Huskies to get closer than seven points after Andrej Stojakovic scored at the rim with 8:31 remaining. Memorable it was not. But not even the Stones dropped only hits.

Here are three more observations from Illinois' win over Washington:

1. The Illini should diversify a bit at point guard

🔸 22 PTS
🔸 7–13 FG
🔸 5 REB
🔸 8 AST

Keaton Wagler helps fuel @IlliniMBB’s 75-66 win over Washington, marking its 19th straight victory over unranked opponents 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Ysj9R6JKIw
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) January 30, 2026

Everybody loves Wagler. Illinois' freshman guard continues to make all the right moves at the controls of the offense. But does he really have to make all the moves?

The Illini would do well to insulate themselves from injury – secondary ball-handler Kylan Boswell is already on the shelf – while avoiding predictability and tough defensive matchups by reapportioning the point guard duties (even if only a little). Nothing wrong with Wagler bringing the ball up whenever he is on the floor, but isolating for Stojakovic, a little Booty Ball from Mirkovic and initiating the offense through Tomislav Ivisic now and then would help in this regard.

And then there is our guy Mihailo Petrovic. Petrovic was MIA against Washington, and his minutes had dwindled from six to four to one over his previous three games. He hasn't played well, and the Huskies were admittedly a poor matchup for him, but Petrovic needs to be more involved to avoid burning out Wagler and, in a doomsday scenario, should he be completely unavailable.

2. What's up with the defense?

Let's just cut to the chase: The Illini were lucky Thursday night. Huskies guard Zoom Diallo lived up to his name, hustling all over the floor on his way to 12 points and 10 assists (likely stifled only by foul trouble that limited his minutes). Diallo was a problem for Illinois' D, and would have been unsolvable if Washington wasn't the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (6-for-23 on threes, many of them open).

Diallo ↗️ Tucker for the @UW_MBB alley-oop 🙌

📺: FS1 pic.twitter.com/hT4XZluwk9
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) January 30, 2026

As Purdue and Braden Smith showed over the weekend, Illinois can't rely only on its size and a random zone thrown into the mix from time to time when it faces opponents with a dynamic on-ball guard and an array of shooters. Nebraska – with Sam Hoiberg, Peyton Sandfort, Rienk Mast and Jamarques Lawrence – will put that theory to the test (again) Sunday when the Illini travel to Lincoln to face the last team to have defeated them.

3. Illinois is growing into a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts club

Wagler was on the ground an uncharacteristic number of times Thursday. Mirkovic tried to do too much too often with the ball. Stojakovic couldn't hit water falling out of a boat as a perimeter shooter. Yet they did enough, leaning into what they do well and getting needed support from Jake Davis and Ben Humrichous around the edges.

Highlights of our 75-66 home win vs. Washington at State Farm Center. pic.twitter.com/CCfBn5CE6F
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 30, 2026

The critique (especially from this corner) is that the Illini can be a bit too formulaic. Sure, the formula wins a lot of games in the regular season. But can Illinois win the big ones? Go on a run in March? We won't know until we know.

Say this for them, though: The Illini know who they are. Brad Underwood is content sending his guys out there to attack matchups, chuck threes and crash the offensive glass like nobody's business. Best of all, the players have bought in, are willing to play roles and seem locked in on a common goal. That gives this team a chance to be very, very good when it counts – and that's about all anyone in this game can ask.