Illinois Basketball: Illini youth gives hope for the future

While the Illinois basketball team continues to lose way more than they win, the grass is greener on the other side.

It really stinks to see the Illini fall to Minnesota 86-75. They are now 6-15 on the season and 2-8 in the Big Ten. No matter what I type after this, just know I am sad and depressed with losing. I don’t want to lose. I don’t have a loser mentality. But, everything will be fine.

Illinois hasn’t had a good run and there is no disputing that. There have been a few solid games peppered in but, for the most part, this season has been ugly. I can attribute this ugly season to youth, though.

Let’s look at the high scorers for each Illinois game this season. If Illinois had upperclassmen who were leading this team in scoring because they were seniors, I would be worried about the future of the program. But, that isn’t the case.

Freshman Ayo Dosunmu has led the Illini in scoring this season in nine out of the 21 games. He also missed one of those games as well. In seven games this season, Trent Frazier has led Illinois in scoring. He is only a sophomore, and he also missed a game. Freshman Giorgi Bezhanishvili led the Illini in scoring in two games. Aaron Jordan led Illinois in scoring for two games, and Andres Feliz led us for one game.

So, breaking down the leading scorers, freshmen led Illinois in 11 out of 21 games this season. A combination of freshmen and sophomores led Illinois in scoring in 18 out of 21 games. And Illinois will be returning 19 out of 21 leading scorers from games this season. That is a lot to be hopeful for in the future.

Now let’s look at rebounding. Giorgi led the Illini in seven games this season. Ayo was second on the team with leading the Illini five times in rebounding. Jordan was next with leading the team in rebounding three times. Feliz and Adonis De La Rosa each led Illinois in rebounding twice. And Da’Monte Williams and Kipper Nichols each led the Illini once in rebounding.

So, breaking down the leading rebounders, freshmen led Illinois in rebounding 12 out of 21 times. Returning players led the Illini in rebounding 16 out of 21 times. Only Jordan and De La Rosa will be departing and they led Illinois in rebounding a total of five times.

Now let’s look at assists. Ayo has led Illinois in assists this season eight times. The next closest is Frazier with leading Illinois five times in assists. Feliz has led the Illini in assists three times. Jordan and Kipper have each led Illinois in assists two times. And Giorgi has led Illinois in assists once.

If you break the assists down, freshmen have led Illinois in assists nine out of 21 games. A combination of freshmen and sophomores has led Illinois in assists in 14 out of 21 games. And returning players led the Illini in assists 19 out of 21 games.

So, while you might be down about Illinois basketball, just think about the future. We are returning so much production next season. Kofi Cockburn and Antwan January are coming in to help in some of these departments as well. The future is extremely bright for this program, but we have to go through a dark period to get there.