What Illinois Has learned
The Fighting Illini basketball team has had a recent struggle with inconsistency as they grind deeper into the heart of the 2024 Big Ten schedule. Since the addition of Terrance Shannon Jr from his suspension, Illinois has gone 2-1, with wins over Rutgers and Indiana, and an overtime loss to Northwestern in a thriller at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Not bad by any means, but as to be expected during re-introduction, there have been some rippling effects.
Illinois during Shannon’s Suspension
Illinois saw a massive step forward taken from their bench and key role players to fill in the gaps for the loss of Shannon. Players like Quincy Guerrier, Justin Harmon, and Marcus Domask grew immensely, and are young men you can trust when you need make a play. How exactly did Illinois capitalize on this?
Luke Goode, Quincy Guerrier, Justin Harmon and Hawkins were certainly less reluctant to pull up from deep with confidence. The Illini have had the guys to confidently knock it down from deep, but as we saw similarly with Ayo, sometimes the rest of your roster can rely too heavy on your star making plays, and pull back a bit. It may be a cool streak, but the Illini have gone 3-14, 11-24, 7-23 and 34 % from deep since Shannon’s return. When it was time to step up and be the best versions of themselves as players (3-point shooters, rim runners, defense. ect) this team found a way to make plays. This confidence led to a handful of players like Hawkins, Harmon, Guerrier, and Domask having career games. With a missing piece now back in place for Brad Underwoods unit, the Illini role players have seemed a bit out of sorts.
Scoring around the rim for layups and putbacks have been a problem, that the Illini can ill afford. It is very hard to play Underwoods bully ball unless you can aggressively capitalize on fastbreaks, and scoring on rebound putbacks. Illinois has struggled at times to complete even the easy plays, and have made games harder than they needed to be for this talented Illini squad.
Lets get this out of the way. Shannon is certainly not to blame for the lack of 3-point shots made, or lack of aggression at the rim since his return. However, the rest of the roster needs to do their part to deliver the best overall production for Illinois. Part of getting deeper in talent as a program is being able to handle when your stars cannot compete. This team was able to do so in a very successful way, and Illini fans should be encouraged by that. Now, if Underwood can get this roster can regain it’s footing and click once again, along side Shannon with rejuvenated confidence, this Illini team is going to be a doozy to take down in March.
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