Illinois Basketball: 5 takeaways from the Illini loss to Wisconsin

4. Illinois’ adjustments to the starting lineup

Brad Underwood went back to his old starting lineup of Trent Frazier, Mark Smith, Mark Alstork, Leron Black and Michael Finke. This is a lineup people are familiar with, but it needs to change.

I know, I say the lineup needs to change after every game, but it never rings truer than now. It is time to change some things up because what I saw last night was unacceptable.

Smith started last night, but he was not good once again. He finished 0-of-5 from the field and 0-of-2 from the three-point arc for a total of zero points. He played 26 minutes against Wisconsin and couldn’t produce a single point. How is that even possible? I think it is time to ease Smith back into playing time off the bench.

The bad thing is, Illinois doesn’t have a ton of help coming off the bench right now. Normally, I would say start Aaron Jordan or Da’Monte Williams instead, but they have both been pretty bad lately.

Let me throw this lineup out at you. Now keep an open mind. I think Underwood should try Frazier at the No. 1, Alstork No. 2, Black No. 3, Finke No. 4 and Greg Eboigbodin No. 5. This would be the biggest possible lineup we have but it would get rebounds and I want to see more of Spicy G. This is the lineup we should try next game.