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Illinois Basketball: 5 takeaways from the Illini loss to Minnesota

By Rees Woodcock

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JANUARY 3: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Illinois Fighting Illini reacts during the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on January 3, 2018 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JANUARY 3: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Illinois Fighting Illini reacts during the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on January 3, 2018 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JANUARY 3: Greg Eboigbodin
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JANUARY 3: Greg Eboigbodin /

3. Time for a big man switch

I have seen a lot of Illini fans hating on Michael Finke and rightfully so. I think I was the last person on his bandwagon but I am only holding onto it with one hand ready to let go.

It is extremely frustrating seeing players from the opposing team who are shorter than Finke getting double-digit rebounds. That is something Finke has only done once this season and it was against a non-DI opponent. Finke is a 6-foot-10 big man who can’t grab a dang rebound for his life.

Finke’s defense has been atrocious as well. Just looking at the game last night, there were so many times a player would come into the lane and Finke would just flail. He doesn’t have great instincts. I love the effort of taking a charge, but you have to know when to attempt a charge and when to just play defense. He can’t process that.

But, I have always been able to justify his bad rebounding and terrible defense with his solid shooting. He was tremendous last season from beyond the arc and from the baseline. That hasn’t been the case this year, though. He is getting 25 or more minutes the majority of the time but has only hit double-digit points four out of the last ten games. That is unacceptable.

Illinois might be finding a suitable player to replace Finke in the starting lineup, though. Greg Eboigbodin played the most minutes of his young career last night. He logged 15 minutes off the bench and was sensational for the Illini.

Eboigbodin finished the night with 9 points and 3 rebounds in the time he played. That is tremendous production in that short amount of playing time. Also, I was extremely impressed with how natural the game comes to Eboigbodin. He seemed to be in the right place at the right time and that is coaching and natural understanding of the game.

The pick-and-rolls with Eboigbodin were sensational as well. He is a great athletic player to enable the Illini to pull off this great offensive play. Honestly, what Eboigbodin reminded me of last night was a more polished Nnanna Egwu. I like what I see and, maybe, he will take the starting spot from Finke this season.

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