Illinois Basketball: Illini without Tevian Jones against Nebraska

The Illinois basketball team needs to be at full strength when they take on solid teams like Nebraska.

Illinois has dealt with their fair share of off-court issues over the last few decades. There have been players suspended for a certain period of time or even kicked off the team before they could even official suit up for the program. These issues aren’t new to the Illini.

But, having an issue like that right now when the program is trying to build back up into a contender again really hurts any momentum. Illinois can’t afford to be a man down this season, but that is exactly what they are heading into the game against the Cornhuskers on Sunday.

Erich Fisher of Rivals first reported that Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said Illini forward Tevian Jones would remain suspended indefinitely. This continues to be a big blow to the Illinois basketball team. Jones also missed the previous game against Notre Dame because of a violation of team rules as well.

I was hoping Jones would be a huge impact player this season for the Illini. The kid was highly touted coming out of Culver City High School in Culver City, California. He was rated as a four-star recruit who was the No. 86 player in the class of 2018 and the No. 19 small forward in the nation.

Jones hasn’t been tearing it up this season, but when he did see time off the bench, he was a solid player. His best game of the season was against Evansville where he put up eight points and four rebounds in 18 minutes of action. Since this game, Jones hasn’t received as many minutes. But, he is still an important part of this team and is missed on the court.

Illinois can’t have players doing things that will get them suspended. They need all the talent they can get on the court. Hopefully, this issue gets solved one way or another and we can move on from this incident.