Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini win over Kansas State

2. Alfonso Plummer needs to start

I feel like there is one player each season who comes off the bench but should actually be starting for the Illinois basketball program. That one player this season is Alfonso Plummer.

Plummer transferred in from Utah where he was a lights-out three-point shooter. He came to the Illinois program and is starting to show why he was such a heralded transfer. Last night against Kansas State, Plummer put up 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 from three-point range.

Kofi Cockburn is always going to do his thing in the paint, but if Illinois didn’t have Plummer dropping bombs from deep, this would have been another loss. He was the electricity this program needed on Tuesday night.

I think it is pretty evident that Plummer is the offensive threat Illinois needs in the starting lineup. We don’t have a legit shooting threat as of right now, and Plummer would fix that leak.

So far this season, Plummer is averaging 9.2 points while shooting 44.4% from three-point range. That is an incredible number from long range. If he can keep that up throughout the year, then Illinois is going to be a threat to go far in the postseason.

It is time for Brad Underwood to make the move. Put Plummer in the starting lineup. Remove Da’Monte Williams. There is no reason Plummer should be getting just 19 minutes in a game as he did against Kansas State. He is legitimately our best offensive threat from outside of five feet.