Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Eastern Illinois

2. Illinois needs that type of shooting from Coleman Hawkins

In the previous slide, I mention that everything this season is going to revolve around Terrence Shannon Jr. When I say this, I don’t mean it in the same way that Kofi Cockburn was the go-to guy last season.

Kofi was more of a black hole for the Illinois offense. We would dump it down to him, and he would dominate in the paint. But the ball wouldn’t come back out of the paint too often. With Shannon, I think everything is going to revolve around him, and this will make other players, like Coleman Hawkins, better.

Hawkins is going to be a beneficiary of so much attention on Shannon. Last night against Eastern Illinois, Hawkins would play 24 minutes and finish with 23 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block. The best part about his game was his zero turnovers on the night.

It was truly amazing what Hawkins was able to do from beyond the three-point arc as well. He would end the game going 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range. This was a stark contrast from the 1-of-3 he shot from three-point range during the Quincy exhibition game.

As a team, Illinois shoots the three-point shot with the confidence of Steph Curry, but we don’t make them very often. Hawkins is going to need to shoot well this season for Illinois to be truly effective from deep. I realize Hawkins’ three-point percentage wont be at 62.5% this season as it was on Monday night, but if we can have him between 40%-50% the rest of the year, then I will be happy. He is so dangerous on the court.