Illinois Basketball: 3 observations from the Illini loss to Ohio State

2. Someone has to help Ayo

I am extremely impressed with Ayo Dosunmu. This kid is easily one of the best players in the nation and continues to show it every night.

On Thursday against Ohio State, Ayo finished the game with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. He was 9-of-14 from the field and 1-of-3 from three-point land. His ability to get whatever shot he wants is becoming legendary. This kid has it all. But what he doesn’t have is help.

Someone has to step up and help Ayo. He can’t be the only source of efficient scoring. The second-leading scorer for Illinois ended up being Andres Feliz. He finished the night with 11 points, but he only shot 4-of-14 from the field and 1-of-6 from the three-point arc. Feliz needs to shoot better.

Trent Frazier wasn’t shooting well either. He had eight points on the night while shooting 3-of-10 from the field and 1-of-6 from three-point land. That means both Feliz and Frazier were a combined 2-of-12 from deep. That is a bad number.

Illinois didn’t have Kofi Cockburn for much of the game due to foul trouble, so he only had six points on the night. The Illini bench managed to scrounge together 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, so they weren’t terrible. But the bench didn’t put up enough points to make up for the other three starters who were lackluster.

Honestly, the player who I was impressed with on offense was Da’Monte Williams. He contributed six points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field and all three of those shots were from the three-point arc. He knew when to shoot and when to pass. Any points by Williams always seems like a bonus.

So, while it is fun to see Ayo going off, he can’t be the only one to score efficiently. He needs some help if this Illinois team wants to go deep in the NCAA tournament.