Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Indiana

2. Rotation decisions boggled my mind

In the previous slide, I talk about Coleman Hawkins and his disappointing performance against Indiana. To be fair, most of the Illini roster had a disappointing performance against the Hoosiers.

But Hawkins, by far, had the worst game in my eyes. What really confused me the most on Thursday night was Brad Underwood’s rotations. The moves he made didn’t make sense, and I think they ultimately hurt the Illini throughout the contest.

My biggest point of confusion was Underwood’s decision to keep Hawkins in the game for 38 minutes. He played all but two minutes on the floor, but he was Illinois’ worst player against the Hoosiers. If you play nearly the entire game, I expect more than nine points and five rebounds, and I am not even talking about his horrendous defense in this slide.

Instead of Underwood benching Hawkins, he decided to bench Matthew Mayer. This made zero sense to me. Over the past 10 games, Mayer has been Illinois’ best player. He has averaged 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 43.5% from three-point range.

I would understand playing Mayer for just 22 minutes if he was in foul trouble or he was having a horrible game, but that wasn’t the case at all. There wasn’t an effort to get Mayer open. When he finally started to shoot, that is when Underwood pulled him.

On top of the Mayer decision, I think Underwood’s sub-happy mentality kills Illinois’ momentum at times. Players can’t get into a groove with each other if they are continuously getting rotated in and out every couple of minutes. Leave a lineup in for long stretches. Let them work together.

This loss wasn’t just on the players. From top to bottom, Illinois did not perform well against Indiana.