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

3. Brad Underwood didn’t trust the bench

I have been raving about Illinois’ depth, our youth, and the contributions from the bench over the past month or so. These players have been exciting to watch, and I think they have helped us get back into games on numerous occasions.

In the game against Purdue, Illinois went to the bench often. We had two players log at least 21 minutes, and a third player hit the double-digit scoring mark. Those three players ended up playing 59 minutes against the Boilermakers.

Illinois was down by 24 points at one time against the Boilermakers. The hustle and drive of the bench enabled us to crawl back into that game and be competitive. So, it would be a good idea to continue having our bench play a high number of minutes.

In crunch time, and when the spotlight was the brightest, Brad Underwood decided that the bench wasn’t good enough for him. He leaned on his starters and, once again, it resulted in a loss.

The same trio who played 59 minutes against Purdue only played 44 minutes against Penn State. Ty Rodgers, a great energy guy who can rebound, only logged 12 minutes, which was about half of his total from the game prior.

Sencire Harris hit a big three-pointer in the game, but he was only able to play 14 minutes. Luke Goode continues to be a walking bucket, but he was only trusted to play 18 minutes against the Nittany Lions.

Illinois’ starters were a combined 2-of-14 from three-point range against Penn State. Our bench ended the game going 4-of-7 from three-point land.

I just don’t understand what Underwood is doing. You have a great bench that can play well. I don’t know if he is being forced to play some of the players he is putting out there, but I feel like the sensible thing to do would be to play the bench more often. I just don’t understand.