Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Chattanooga

3. Alfonso Plummer gave Illinois a spark

The first half of the game against Chattanooga was ugly for the Illinois basketball program. Nothing seemed to be working, and the Mocs were fighting hard.

Multiple Illinois players didn’t show up in the first half as well. To say Alfonso Plummer was non-existent in the first half is putting it nicely. His first half consisted of going 1-of-3 from the field for two points, one rebound, one turnover, and one foul.

With the Illini struggling, it was time for Plummer to wake up. There was a switch that flipped for him, or it may have been the coaching staff actually drawing up plays for the three-point sharpshooter, and he started to hit shots. Plummer immediately gave Illinois the spark they needed to get back in the game.

In the second half alone, Plummer went 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-8 from three-point range. He scored 13 points in that second half as well. For the night, Plummer would finish with 15 points and two rebounds, and he was a major reason Illinois pulled off the comeback win.

Moving forward, I would hope Brad Underwood sees that Plummer needs to be a bigger part of the game plan throughout the entire game and not for just a half of basketball. We need to have a balanced offense and not just feed Kofi Cockburn the ball every time down the court. Let’s use our three-point shooters.