Illinois Basketball: 2018-19 Illini season wrap-up for Trent Frazier

The best story for the Illinois basketball team during Brad Underwood’s first season with the program was freshman Trent Frazier putting up big numbers.

Frazier was so fun to watch during his first run with the Illini. This past season, the expectations were even higher. Here is a wrap-up for the 2018-19 campaign.

Expectations

Like previously mentioned, the expectations I had for Frazier were extremely high. With a year under his belt in the Underwood offense, it was time for Frazier to take his game to the next level.

Frazier’s first year in Champaign was great for a freshman. He averaged 12.5 points, 3.1 assists, 1.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. He shot 34.6-percent from three-point range and 40.5-percent from the field. The expectations I had for him this past season was to improve on those numbers. I wanted to see him make first, second or third-team All-Big Ten. Those were realistic expectations.

Reality

The sad reality of Frazier’s sophomore season was that he didn’t make an All-Big Ten team. He came up short, but I believe that was because of the team’s record more than his actual performance. If you look at the stat sheet, his numbers improved this past season.

Frazier finished the 2018-19 season averaging 13.7 points, 2.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He shot 40.6-percent from deep and 41.1-percent from the field. He even improved his free throw shooting from 64.4-percent to 75.9-percent. On paper, it looked like Frazier had a great year.

For some reason, though, I didn’t feel like he played that well this past season. It was probably because the team was struggling, but I always felt there was an uncomfortable feeling for him. I believe it was because he had to “share the ball” with Ayo Dosunmu. Frazier is a player who needs the ball in his hands and the offense would go through him. That isn’t the case anymore, and he had to adjust to this change. That set off the balance of his game, in my opinion.

Future

Unless something drastic happens, Frazier is coming back for his junior year. I can’t believe he is already a junior in college. It seems like just yesterday this kid was all pumped to get to Champaign to play basketball. Now we only have two more years of him, at most.

I think, towards the end of the season, this Illini team was starting to gel more. Frazier and Ayo were working well together, and this enabled Frazier to play his best basketball. I think he is going to continue developing his game to a point where he can adapt to changes more easily.

I think the world of Frazier. This kid has the clutch gene, the big game gene and the give me the damn ball and get out of the way gene. He is going to have a great junior campaign and, probably, help lead Illinois bask to the postseason. His 13.7 PPG will increase some, as well as his other numbers. Don’t be surprised if he makes an All-Big Ten team in 2019-20.