Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Syracuse

For the first half, the Illinois basketball team was in a fight with the Syracuse Orange.

Syracuse put up a good match early on, as they had the lead over the Illini 18-17. But Illinois would flip a switch late in the first half. A quick 13-5 run by Illinois would send us into halftime up 30-23.

Illinois wouldn’t look back from there. Syracuse managed to get the deficit to five points at 35-30, but then the Illini went on a 25-7 run to put the game away. We would end up cruising to an easy 73-44 victory.

Here are five observations from the Illinois basketball win over Syracuse.

1. Coleman Hawkins is going to continue rising up NBA Draft big boards

Coming into the game on Tuesday night, I posted an article about two Illinois basketball players who were rising on the latest BasketballNews.com 2023 NBA Draft Big Board.

The two players who were on that big board were Terrence Shannon Jr. and Coleman Hawkins. In the published big board in October, Hawkins was the No. 44 player coming out of college. He then moved up four spots to No. 40 in the big board released this week.

I believe BasketballNews.com is going to have to update their big board soon, though. With the performance Hawkins put up against Syracuse, there is no doubt he is going to be skyrocketing up everyone’s big board.

Hawkins did everything for the Illini against the Orange. He finished the game with 15 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and one steal. This was the fifth triple-double in the history of the Illinois basketball program.

This type of production doesn’t come as a surprise either. Hawkins has been a well-rounded player for the past couple of years. A 6-foot-10 player who can rebound, play on the perimeter, guard well, go 7-of-11 from the field and 1-of-2 from three-point range, finish a game with a triple-double, and only manage to have two turnovers. That is a dangerous player who has some serious NBA potential.