Illinois Basketball: Takeaways from the Illini loss to UNLV

1. Welcome back Mark Smith

Heading into the UNLV game on Saturday night, I feel like it was fair to say Mark Smith had been slightly disappointing. He was this highly touted recruit who Illinois convinced to come to Champaign over teams like Duke and Kentucky.

The last five games leading up to the contest in Las Vegas weren’t good. He only managed to score a total of 17 points in those five games and was 6-of-27 from the field. I expect better out of such a talented player.

During this rough stretch, Smith also seemed to have lost his confidence as well. He would be hesitant to shoot and drive, and he just wasn’t effective on the floor. That all changed against the Runnin’ Rebels, though.

Smith was one of the main reasons Illinois didn’t get run out of the building on Saturday night. He ended the night dropping 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point range. The rest of the starters only scored 21 points combined.

I like how Smith was an all-around player for the Illini as well. This is what I expected when he pledged his commitment to the program. He added four assists and three rebounds against UNLV.

Despite the loss, Illinois got Smith back on track and that will help for the future. He has so much talent and I can’t wait to see how he finishes the non-conference.