Illinois Basketball: 4 big questions for the Illini vs Northwestern

3. Is Underwood going to lean on the bench more?

In the first slide, I talked about how a trio of starting guards for the Illini hasn’t played well lately. Against Purdue, they were awful, and they didn’t perform well in the previous Northwestern game either.

When you have multiple starters struggling to put the ball in the hoop, it might not be a bad idea to go to your bench to give your starters some rest. The bench can provide a spark to the team, and this can help propel the program to a victory.

I believe Illinois’ bench has that ability. We have some special players who can come in and put some points on the board. At a bare minimum, they hustle and hit the floor, which wins me over as a fan.

Brad Underwood has dabbled in playing the bench this season. There are glimmers of him wanting to play some of the bench players, especially the young guys who were all borderline top 100 recruits.

RJ Melendez has gotten the opportunity to play recently, and he has performed pretty well. He had eights points, two rebounds, one assist, and one steal in just 10 minutes against Purdue. Melendez also played pretty well against Northwestern the first time around with six points, three rebounds, and one assist in 16 minutes.

I wouldn’t mind seeing a bigger effort by Underwood to play the other two freshmen as well. Luke Goode has been one to play his butt off each time he is in the game. He is a player who can do it all. I think it would pay off if Underwood would trust him more than five minutes per game.

Don’t sleep on Brandin Podziemski either. Underwood played him just two minutes against Purdue, and he pulled down a rebound. In the previous game against the Wildcats, Podziemski had five points and one rebound in just six minutes of action. This kid can play as well.

I am really high on this freshmen trio. Their potential is unlimited. Every time they are in the game, they hustle and bring so much energy to the court. On Sunday, a big question is whether or not Underwood is going to trust the bench a little more. Illinois needs him to trust the bench. We need the fresh legs and balance in the lineup.