Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini victory over Nebraska

3. Oh yeah, Bello is going to be really good

Throughout the season, you could always see flashes of greatness from Andre Curbelo. The superstar recruit brought his talent to Champaign and hasn’t disappointed by any means.

Fans do get tripped up by his sloppy play at times, but that comes with being a true freshman. Curbelo will work through the turnovers. But let him develop as a player. He will learn from his mistakes.

Statistically, the best game Curbelo had before Thursday night was probably the first Minnesota game. He would finish that game with 9 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in just 22 minutes of action.

For the first time, though, we got to see what Curbelo would be like as a starter against Nebraska. It was fun to watch.

Curbelo would dazzle his way to 10 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 steal. He was 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. While he did end up with five turnovers on the night, his playmaking abilities and the ability he has to start the flow of the offense far outweigh his sloppy play.

The only silver lining to Ayo Dosunmu being out right now is that we get to see what the future might look like, and wow, the future looks bright. Curbelo is going to be the starting No. 1 guard next season for Illinois, and we will be in good hands. If this kid could just develop some type of outside shot, he would be in contention for first-team All-American honors as a sophomore.