3 Reasons Illinois Beats Houston – and One Reason the Illini Fall Short

Heading into the Illinois-Houston Sweet 16 matchup on Thursday (9:05 p.m. CT, TBS), Illinois appears to be the underdog – albeit only slightly. But throughout the 2025-26 campaign, the Illini have made it abundantly clear that any team that lines up opposite them is vulnerable. Brad Underwood’s group has the firepower to compete – and beat – any team in the country.

Here are three reasons the Illini will do just that on Thursday night – and one reason why they won’t:

Three reasons Illinois tops Houston in the Sweet 16

Mar 13, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood reacts during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Houston is vulnerable on the defensive glass

Houston, especially lately, has been fantastic on the offensive glass. The defensive boards remain a problem, though. The Cougars’ defensive rebounding percentage ranks just No. 169 in the country. At times this year, they have been startlingly poor in that department.

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In the loss to Texas Tech, Houston gave up a mind-boggling 21 offense rebounds to the Red Raiders. Illinois, which is the No. 3 offensive rebounding team in the country by percentage, could feast in that category on Thursday.

Three-point shooting is a strength for Illinois – and kryptonite for Houston

Since the turn of the New Year, Houston has lost just five games. In four of those defeats, the Cougars’ opponent shot 40 percent or better from long range. Also, they allow teams to attempt one of the highest rates of three-pointers in the country (rank No. 251 in three-point rate yielded).

Illinois often lives beyond the arc (rank No. 15 in offensive three-point rate), and is relatively efficient from there, with the ability to get scorching-hot. Essentially, what all these numbers boil down to is this: The Illini will likely get up a lot of threes in this game, and if they connect at an average-or-better clip, the Cougars will be well behind…

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Publish date : 2026-03-25 04:06:00

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