Illinois Basketball: Brad Underwood has figured out Illini guard play

Under the previous coaching regime, the Illinois basketball team struggled to find point guards.

This was the main bugaboo for John Groce and his coaching staff. Sure, the team had some serviceable players come through the program. He had a few No. 2 guards play for the team who were solid players. But, the No. 1 guard role was one position that had a lot left to be desired.

There are a few elements that went into the struggles of the Illinois program lack of point guard help. An injury to Tracy Abrams after the second season under Groce really hurt the point guard position. He went down for two years straight and was never the same player in his final season.

Groce’s backups couldn’t fill in sufficiently in his system. There was always a void for the Illini when it came to point guard play. But, this seems to all be changing under Brad Underwood.

Underwood doesn’t just have one guard who is doing well. He has two guards who can effectively work as the No. 1 or No. 2 guard at any given time. Ayo Dosunmu is starting to develop as the main ball handler, but Trent Frazier can also handle the rock well too.

Dosunmu is the prized recruit Underwood landed since taking over for the Illini. He is leading the team with 3.2 assists per game and is second on the team with 14.1 points per game. His ability on the court is showing and there is a possibility he gets selected in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Frazier has also done some special things while with the Orange and Blue. He was actually a commit under Groce, but Underwood was able to hold onto him as other big-time programs were trying to pry him away from his commitment. Frazier is second on the team with 2.7 APG and leads the team with 14.7 PPG. He is also No. 1 on the team in steals with 1.6 steals per game.

These two big-time guards can work as the No. 1 guard on the team. Having someone this effective at the position is huge for Illinois basketball, as this program now has two starting-caliber players able to run the team. That is something we haven’t seen since Dee and Deron way back when.

Let’s not forget another guard element that is helping the team tremendously. The fact that we have a backup point guard like Andres Feliz is amazing for this program. We can give either Ayo or Frazier rest and not lose much with Feliz coming in. That is huge for this team.

Feliz has been sensational this season and isn’t talked about nearly enough. Illinois is currently on a three-game winning streak and has won four out of five games in part because of the play of Feliz. In the last five games alone, Feliz has averaged 10.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game. This has been a tremendous help off the bench.

The fact Underwood can look to an experienced guard to come off the bench and handle the ball like Feliz is a great asset to this program. He now averages 7.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game this season. He is also a junior, so we get him back next season as well.

This little winning streak the Illini are on is really fun to watch. This team is playing extremely well and is looking like a legit threat to knock off a few teams in the Big Ten Tournament. One of the keys to success, besides for Giorgi Bezhanishvili going off, is the fact we have great guard play. Having all three of these No. 1 guards clicking will help this team reach new heights this season.