Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Penn State

3. It is never good when Monte is our leading scorer

Illinois has a ton of big-time scorers on the team. There are so many players who can knock down a big three-point shot when it is needed.

When you think big-time scorer, I would argue the last person you think of on the Illinois basketball team is Da’Monte Williams.

I am not saying this to take away from Williams’ big night. He played well. Williams finished with 14 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals while shooting 4-of-10 from three-point range. If we can get 40% out of Williams from three-point range every game, then I am a happy camper.

With that being said, I have a firm belief if Williams is our leading scorer in a game, then we are going to be struggling to win that game.

Illinois had some of their best players not taking shots or missing shots. The best three-point shooter on the team, Alfonso Plummer, was 1-of-5 from the field and 1-of-4 from three-point range. It was one of his worst games this season, as he finished with just five points on the night.

Trent Frazier wasn’t bad by any means, but he only shot the ball six times. He was 3-of-6 from the field for 10 points. Jacob Grandison wasn’t bad either, but he wasn’t shooting the ball. He would finish the game going 3-of-7 from the field for eight points.

It seemed that Brad Underwood had a game plan. I feel like Williams was told to shoot. There was an effort to get him the ball and for him to have confidence in his shot. But I am not sure that is the right formula to win a game. With this mentality, Illinois struggled to beat Penn State. We can’t have that happen.