Illinois Basketball: 5 big questions for the Illini against Houston

5. How can Andre Curbelo become more efficient?

Clearly, Brad Underwood is not trusting his bench players for some reason. He had a short bench for much of the season, and now he has decided to make that bench even shorter.

Illinois had six players play double-digit minutes against Chattanooga on Friday night. One of those players was the sixth man, Andre Curbelo. He received 30 minutes for the Illini, and there were times he was a spark plug for the program.

Curbelo comes into the game and is instant energy. If the nickname wasn’t so clunky, I would try to get 5-Hour Energy off the ground. That is the type of energy he brings to the Illini team.

But during his spurts of energy, Curbelo tends to get wild and reckless with the basketball. So, that leaves me with the final big question of how can Curbelo become more efficient?

Curbelo finished the game on Friday night with five points, four assists, three rebounds, and six turnovers. He was just 1-of-7 from the floor as well. This isn’t the stat line I need to see in 30 minutes of action.

I think Curbelo needs some structure on offense. He isn’t good enough just yet to run things by himself. Plays need to be set up so he can work off other players. Curbelo makes some spectacular passes, but he is also a little too cool for school at times, and this kills the team.

If we can get Curbelo in a groove of some set plays, then I think he can shine his brightest. Once he gets going and starts playing well, that is when you can let him loose a little bit.