Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions

2. What happened to Matthew Mayer

I am old enough to remember when Matthew Mayer was good at basketball. I realize that sounds harsh, but wow, what happened with this talented 6-foot-9 wing who could hit three-pointers?

For much of the past couple of months, Mayer has not played well. He had a decent game against Michigan, but there has only been one game since February 19 that he has shot over 30% from three-point range.

On Thursday night against Penn State, Mayer laid another egg. He would finish the game with seven points, eight rebounds, one assist, and one steal. He would also have two turnovers for the game.

What hurts the most is how inefficient Mayer was from the field. He was only 3-of-11 from the field and 0-of-5 from three-point range. He did that while taking up 32 minutes on the court.

This bad play has started to become a trend for Mayer as well. Over the past two games, he is now 8-of-25 from the field and 1-of-15 from three-point range.

Over the past four games, in which Illinois is 1-3, Mayer is 20-of-56, 35.7%, from the field and 8-of-36, 22.2%, from three-point range.

Why has Mayer been so bad, though? I would start by saying Illinois’ offense is bad. There were multiple times against the Nittany Lions that I uttered out loud, “does this team practice on the offensive side of the court?”

There is no cohesion on offense. There is no purpose to the movements, and there are no plays or sets drawn up. When there are, our players run them for about seven seconds, and then it goes back to being a pickup game. In turn, Mayer doesn’t get good looks and ends up chucking up a tightly guarded three-pointer. It truly is a terrible offense.