Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Bethune-Cookman

Illinois basketball had a game against Bethune-Cookman that could end up shaping the rest of the 2022-23 campaign.

The Illini were struggling on the court coming into the game on Thursday night. Illinois was looking like a team that wasn’t going to make the NCAA tournament, let alone make a run at a national title. Things were looking pretty grim for the Orange and Blue.

While it was just Bethune-Cookman, I believe the game on Thursday had a ton of meaning. If the Illini would have come out looking lethargic and unorganized, then the season was going down the drain. We needed to come out firing and have a sense of cohesion and urgency to our game. And we did just that.

Illinois took control of the game from the jump. The Illini would jump out to a 47-19 halftime lead, and we would cruise to an easy 85-52 victory.

Here are five observations from the Illinois basketball win over Bethune-Cookman.

1. Great move by starting Sencire Harris

Over the past few games, Brad Underwood has been trying to figure out who to put in the starting lineup. What combination of players would work the best together?

I think Underwood nailed it by starting Sencire Harris. The freshman sensation has been playing amazing this season, and he finally got his chance to shine on Thursday night.

Leading up to the Bethune-Cookman game, Harris had been earning more and more minutes. He now has five straight games of 16 or more minutes, and his best game of the season came against the Wildcats.

Harris would finish the game with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists, and one block while shooting 71.4% from the field and 66.7% from three-point range.

Beyond the stat line, Harris brings way more to the game that you don’t see on paper. His energy alone sent a jolt through the Illinois starting lineup. You could tell the rest of the team played a more upbeat game because they could feed through Harris’ energy.

The defensive prowess of Harris gave the Illini life as well. His defensive effort would enable Illinois to force turnovers. We would also get into transition a lot with Harris on the court. He can lead the breaks or he can be a key cog in getting the ball from point A to point B for a bucket.

Harris didn’t finish with the most points, rebounds, or assists on the team, but I would argue he was the most important player on the court Thursday night.