Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Nebraska

3. Illinois players find a way to be impactful

Terrence Shannon Jr. balled out on Tuesday night, and it was fun to watch. The superstar guard dropped 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. He even added 11 rebounds, four assists, and four steals as well.

When Shannon gets going as he did against Nebraska, we need to keep feeding him the ball. That is what ended up happening, but it didn’t mean that the Illini players just stood around. Each player finds a way to be impactful without scoring the basketball.

Matthew Mayer had one of his worst shooting performances in quite some time. He was just 2-of-10 from the field. But the former Baylor sharpshooter still managed to scrap together a solid stat line of four rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and one steal.

I love that Brad Underwood is still sticking with Sencire Harris in the starting lineup. He dabbled in shooting on Tuesday night, but Illinois didn’t need his points. He still found a way to finish with three steals and two rebounds while being our point guard on the court.

Ty Rodgers played some valuable minutes as well. While he only had four points, he was still able to add seven rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block in just 16 minutes of action.

Illinois has players who will help the team in every possible way on the court. Even when the ball isn’t dropping, we are looking for other ways to contribute. That is important if we want to keep winning.