Illinois Basketball: 4 big questions for the Illini against Rutgers

Illinois basketball is starting a portion of their Big Ten schedule on Friday night against Rutgers.

The Illini are actually playing some decent basketball right now. Fresh off a victory over Notre Dame, Illinois is now riding a three-game winning streak heading into their matchup with the Scarlet Knights.

Here are four big questions for the Illinois basketball team against Rutgers.

1. Who is the point guard?

Coming into the 2021-22 campaign, the Illinois basketball team had a point guard in Andre Curbelo who was looked at as a potential first-team All-American candidate.

I think you almost have to throw the All-American talk out the window at this point. Honestly, I hope whatever Curbelo is going through gets fixed as quickly as possible so we can just get him back on the court.

Curbelo has only played in four games this season, and the last time we saw him in action was against Kansas State. He scored six points and dished out seven assists in that eight-point victory.

Since then, Illinois has pieced together a couple of options at the No. 1 guard spot. From the sound of things, the Illini might continue being without Curbelo for at least a few more games. With that being said, who is going to continue being our point guard?

There are a few players who now traditionally bring the ball up the court. Trent Frazier and Da’Monte Williams are the two main players tasked with this. Sometimes you will see Coleman Hawkins or Jacob Grandison dribbling up the court, but that is only in certain situations.

Even with Frazier and Williams having control of the ball, it makes me nervous. I need a commander on the court. I need someone who is going to lead this Illinois team so we don’t get off track too many times throughout a game. I don’t think we have that right now. I am afraid it is going to bite us in the butt in the near future.

On Friday night, I am going to be keeping an eye out for who continues being the point guard. I think it should be Frazier. He should be starting and playing a ton of minutes. Frazier is the best point guard option we have at this point.