Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over the Michigan Wolverines

2. Illinois shut down Michigan’s bench

In any game, bench play is important. When a game goes into overtime, the bench becomes even more important. When a game goes into double overtime, the bench is relied on to provide crucial minutes down the stretch.

The Illinois game against Michigan went into double overtime, and Michigan’s bench was forced to play a lot of minutes. Thankfully, the Illini defense was able to shut down any attempt the Wolverines made to get their bench involved.

Michigan’s bench would play a total of 61 minutes and finish with nine points, 14 rebounds, two blocks, three turnovers, and nine fouls. They were 2-of-12 from the field and 0-of-4 from behind the three-point arc.

I’ll give all the credit in the world to Illinois’ game plan and our big men. Big role players like Tarris Reed Jr. couldn’t get going. He played a season-high 26 minutes and only produced three points and six rebounds.

Joey Baker, a player who has averaged 8.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in his last three games, was held scoreless off the bench. He finished with zero points, two rebounds, and two fouls while going 0-of-5 from the field and 0-of-4 from three-point range.

When Michigan needed their bench the most on Thursday night, it wasn’t there. Illinois was able to shut down any spark that the Wolverines’ bench could provide. It was a great team effort.