The Illinois Fighting Illini started out the year strong but have struggled as of late. They are currently 11-5 and are coming off an upset win over #11 Maryland. Illinois started out the year 6-0, being ranked #24 for a week, but has gone just 5-5 since. The Big 10 is once again a very strong conference, from top to bottom, so the win over Maryland was huge as it would be a huge disadvantage to start 0-3. The Illini have showed flashes earlier in the year of being one of the better teams in the Big 10, however, have not looked good as of late. At the beginning of the year I thought this team was tournament bound and could make a run to the sweet 16. This looked like the most impressive Illinois team since 2005, when Deron Williams led them to the National Championship against North Carolina. Illinois is only 1-3 against ranked teams this year, but did beat now #21 Baylor earlier in the year. The Illini only have one more ranked opponent on their schedule, Wisconsin. However, their schedule still isn't a walk in the park as no one in the Big 10 is under .500 this year. Bad news was given to John Groce and his team on Tuesday as they found out their top scorer, Rayvonte Rice, will be out 3-6 weeks due to a broken left hand, CBSSports was the first to report this. Even without their top scorer the Illini went out and surprised everyone by upsetting a top 15 team.
Rayvonte Rice has had an interesting path as he started out at Drake but then transferred to Illinois after his freshman year. He played great as a freshman, averaging 16.8 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 33.4 MPG. It was a surprise to see Rice transfer but seemed fitting as he grew up in Champaign, Illinois and was recruited hard by Groce, coming out of high school, when Groce was at Ohio. The transfer meant that he would have to sit out his sophomore year but picked up right where he left off his junior year. Rice averaged 15.9 PPG, 6 RPG and 1.7 SPG last year as he once again averaged over 30 MPG. This year Rice improved in everything, he is scoring at a more efficient pace, while also grabbing more rebounds and dishing out more assists. Rayvonte Rice leads the Illini in PPG (17.2), RPG (6.9) and SPG (1.8), while also shooting a very good 51.5% from the field. Rice also adds 2.2 APG and shoots nearly 50% from behind the arc (48.3%). To go a long with his amazing stats, he also hit a buzzer beating three to beat Missouri last month. There is no doubt Rice has been Illinois' best player this year, and John Groce knows it. Groce talked about the injury saying, "Ray's a monster. Ray's a monster on offense, defense, rebounding. Ray's one of the best players in the country. Not one player can replace Ray. It has to be a collective effort." Saying that Rice is one of the best players in the country may seem crazy but Rice's numbers back it up. He has played like one of the best players in the nation and this will make it extremely hard for the Illini to make the tournament now that Rice is out. Their tournament hopes were already low, but not it seems like there is almost no chance. Malcolm Hill is the only other player averaging double digits, while Aaron Cosby and Ahmad Starks will see more minutes, but both are shooting under 35% from the field. Rice will most likely go undrafted but I think he can make an NBA team. At 6'4" Rice has great size and lengthy arms. He has proven that he can play both sides of the ball and does everything well. My biggest problem with him is that he only shoots 80.3% from the free throw line, but it is an improvement from his 70.8% as a freshman. There has been a big improvement every year, yet it still isn't where you want your shooting guard to be. That being said, every team needs a guard who can score and rebound, so seeing a team giving him a shot next year wouldn't be a complete surprise. Illinois only has one more ranked team left on their schedule but that may not be a good thing. Illinois has bad losses to struggling teams like Oregon and Michigan, and their only impressive win was yesterday against Maryland. Rankings change every week, so they will most likely play more than one ranked team this year, however it still might not be enough. This team is struggling and now that they lost their top player I don't see them dancing in March.
Rayvonte Rice has had an interesting path as he started out at Drake but then transferred to Illinois after his freshman year. He played great as a freshman, averaging 16.8 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 33.4 MPG. It was a surprise to see Rice transfer but seemed fitting as he grew up in Champaign, Illinois and was recruited hard by Groce, coming out of high school, when Groce was at Ohio. The transfer meant that he would have to sit out his sophomore year but picked up right where he left off his junior year. Rice averaged 15.9 PPG, 6 RPG and 1.7 SPG last year as he once again averaged over 30 MPG. This year Rice improved in everything, he is scoring at a more efficient pace, while also grabbing more rebounds and dishing out more assists. Rayvonte Rice leads the Illini in PPG (17.2), RPG (6.9) and SPG (1.8), while also shooting a very good 51.5% from the field. Rice also adds 2.2 APG and shoots nearly 50% from behind the arc (48.3%). To go a long with his amazing stats, he also hit a buzzer beating three to beat Missouri last month. There is no doubt Rice has been Illinois' best player this year, and John Groce knows it. Groce talked about the injury saying, "Ray's a monster. Ray's a monster on offense, defense, rebounding. Ray's one of the best players in the country. Not one player can replace Ray. It has to be a collective effort." Saying that Rice is one of the best players in the country may seem crazy but Rice's numbers back it up. He has played like one of the best players in the nation and this will make it extremely hard for the Illini to make the tournament now that Rice is out. Their tournament hopes were already low, but not it seems like there is almost no chance. Malcolm Hill is the only other player averaging double digits, while Aaron Cosby and Ahmad Starks will see more minutes, but both are shooting under 35% from the field. Rice will most likely go undrafted but I think he can make an NBA team. At 6'4" Rice has great size and lengthy arms. He has proven that he can play both sides of the ball and does everything well. My biggest problem with him is that he only shoots 80.3% from the free throw line, but it is an improvement from his 70.8% as a freshman. There has been a big improvement every year, yet it still isn't where you want your shooting guard to be. That being said, every team needs a guard who can score and rebound, so seeing a team giving him a shot next year wouldn't be a complete surprise. Illinois only has one more ranked team left on their schedule but that may not be a good thing. Illinois has bad losses to struggling teams like Oregon and Michigan, and their only impressive win was yesterday against Maryland. Rankings change every week, so they will most likely play more than one ranked team this year, however it still might not be enough. This team is struggling and now that they lost their top player I don't see them dancing in March.
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