Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over UCLA

5. Bench play came through for Illini

In the first slide, I touched on how important Sencire Harris was for the Illinois basketball team on Friday night. His two steals changed the momentum of the game completely.

Harris would also play great defense for the entire nine minutes he was on the court, and he would give the Illini four points and one assist. He was a great sparkplug for the Orange and Blue.

Illinois’ entire bench actually played decently well. They were a big reason why we would come away with a victory over the Bruins.

Dain Dainja led the way in the scoring department for the bench players. He finished the game with 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field. He also added three rebounds and a steal.

I think Jayden Epps is a nice energetic guy who can shoot well most of the time. While Epps was only 1-of-6 on the night, he still gave Illinois four points, four rebounds, and two assists. He was impactful for the Illini.

Illinois’ bench would finish the game against UCLA with a total of 21 points, eight rebounds, four steals, and three assists. They were also 9-of-16 from the field.

If the bench can score north of 20 points in every game this season, then Illinois is going to see a lot of victories. I love what we have coming off the bench. And just think, three out of the four bench players the Illini played last night are freshmen and the other one is a sophomore. The future is so bright.