Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Wisconsin

5. Sencire Harris is the Illini Swiss Army Knife

I praised Jayden Epps earlier in this article about how he has taken over the leadership role for the Illinois basketball program. I also believe that Sencire Harris is right there with Epps as one of the leaders on this team.

Harris got the start against Wisconsin but was quickly benched after he missed badly on two decent looks at the hoop. But he managed to get into the game throughout, logging 15 minutes on the day. In those 15 minutes, Harris would bring the ball up the court. He would also help the program get into our offense and would lock down Wisconsin on defense.

There were multiple times during the game that Harris’ defense would disrupt anything the Badgers tried to do. His aggressive defensive mentality would help force turnovers, and this would change any momentum Wisconsin had in favor of Illinois.

The box score won’t show the impact Harris has on the Illini. He would finish the Wisconsin game with zero points, two assists, and three steals while shooting 0-of-2 from the field. I think this shows how much of a leader Harris truly is on the court.

Harris knows that he doesn’t need to be a shooter. After those two early misses, he didn’t attempt a single shot. Instead, he made his teammates better by having a couple of great assists, getting the offense going, and giving the Illini more possessions with his defense.

Some people are saying that Harris is like Da’Monte Williams. I disagree. I think he is a much better player than Williams. I have said this before and I will say it again, I think Harris is going to have a similar path as Luther Head. They are very similar players. I can’t wait to see what the rest of his career holds.