Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Syracuse

5. Illinois’ depth is suffocating

Illinois basketball has a great starting five. I would argue we have one of the best starting five players that I have seen in the history of the program.

When one player isn’t playing well, another player can pick up his slack. Skyy Clark went 0-of-10 from the field and had two total points. No worries, Coleman Hawkins had a sensational night on 7-of-11 shooting. Three different Illinois starters scored at least 15 points.

The Illini can then sub out a player who needs rest. The incoming reserves don’t miss a beat and can fill the stat sheet well.

Jayden Epps played 26 minutes off the bench and dropped 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. Sencire Harris went down with an injury, but the Illini depth still stayed strong. The Illinois bench would put up 19 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three blocks on the night.

In Illinois’ seven games this season, we have four different leading scorers, four different leading rebounders, and four different leading assisters.

The depth Illinois has is insane. I am not sure I have ever seen a team this deep in program history. Just imagine if we had Luke Goode healthy as well. Wow, Illinois is going to be dangerous come March.