Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win vs Iowa

2. Freshmen stepped up in a big spot

With Jacob Grandison sidelined with a shoulder injury and Coleman Hawkins forced back into the starting lineup, Brad Underwood had no choice but to give his freshmen minutes off the bench.

This is something I have been calling for the entire season. Illinois has three top 100 recruits from the class of 2021, so we should use that talent right now.

All three freshmen got a chance to play on Sunday night against Iowa. Brandin Podziemski received the fewest minutes. He checked into the game and the refs decided to call a moving screen on Podziemski. I didn’t think it was a bad screen, but this immediately made Underwood bench the kid after two minutes of action.

RJ Melendez was the second freshman off the bench for the Illini. It was nice having Melendez back after his long injury absence. He gave the Illini three points on 1-of-1 shooting from the field in eight minutes of action. That one shot was a three-pointer.

The first freshman off the bench was Luke Goode. He came into the game and put up three points and two rebounds while going 1-of-3 from the field. His lone bucket was also a three-pointer.

The trio of freshmen are the future of this program. Illinois will rely on them down the road more, but when we needed them in a big spot, they stepped up and gave us good minutes. What the stat sheet doesn’t show is the impact the freshmen have on the defensive end of the court. The freshmen were key contributors in the big win over the Hawkeyes.