Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Northwestern

Illinois basketball is at one of the lowest points in years after falling to Northwestern on Wednesday night.

The Illini were coming off a game that had my confidence a little higher. We throttled Bethune-Cookman and looked like a cohesive unit. But this was a different team on Wednesday. Illinois would end an eight-game winning streak against the Wildcats, as Northwestern would go on to win the game, 73-60.

This wasn’t an enjoyable game to watch by any means. Somehow, Illinois kept the game relatively close despite playing some bad basketball and shooting 30 fewer free throws. With that being said, there was a lot to take from this game.

Here are five observations from the Illinois basketball loss to Northwestern.

1. There is a lack of leadership on this team

I have been watching the Illinois basketball program for quite some time. I can honestly say that I have never had more disappointment in a team than this season.

Illinois had an incredible offseason on paper. We were able to land one of the best recruiting classes in the country, and Brad Underwood secured two huge transfers in Terrence Shannon Jr. and Matthew Mayer. This upcoming season was supposed to be special.

I can sit here and say that this season is nowhere near special. At 9-5 overall, I would argue that Illinois is in serious danger of not making the NCAA tournament. I would put a lot of the issues on the shoulders of our older guys. The players who are supposed to be leaders on this team.

Shannon and Mayer haven’t provided the leadership Illinois needed, though. But, as a fan, maybe I should have expected less from these two. I mean, they didn’t have to be leaders at their previous stop, so why should they know how to be leaders at Illinois?

When Shannon was at Texas Tech, he could blend in with the background and do his own thing. He received the fifth-most minutes on the team, and he was surrounded by a bunch of talented experienced players who could be leaders.

The same could be said for Mayer. He came from Baylor where he received the sixth-most minutes on the team last season. He was never expected to lead the Bears, as they had some top talent who led that program. Mayer could just blend in and do his own thing.

Coleman Hawkins is the other player I look at for leadership on this team. He was the best returning player we had. But how can we expect the player who had the seventh-most minutes on the team last season to know how to lead a program?

At this point, there is a massive lack of leadership for the Illini. From rallying the team to leading by example to body language on the court to pure basketball talent, there are exactly zero upperclassmen whom I trust to lead the way for the Illinois basketball program.