5 big observations from the Illinois basketball win over Oakland

2. Kasparas Jakucionis finally looked like a freshman

Illinois was able to land Kasparas Jakucionis this offseason. He was a great get from overseas, and throughout the past few months, people have raved about this kid’s game.

Through the first two contests of the Illinois season, I was blown away. Jakucionis was living up to the hype. He was able to score and distribute at a rate I hadn’t seen at Illinois in decades.

I thought multiple times in the first two games that Jakucionis didn’t look like a freshman. He looked like a seasoned veteran who could play in the NBA right now. On Wednesday night, for the first time, Jakucionis finally looked like a freshman

This was by far Jakucionis’ worst game this season, and honestly, I expect it to be his worst game of his freshman campaign. He is a great player who just had a bad game because he is a freshman.

Jakucionis finished the Oakland contest with four points, six rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Those are all good numbers. The bad numbers are 0-of-3 from the field, all of which were three-point attempts. Jakucionis also had five turnovers in the game.

Since Illinois got the win, I don’t mind Jakucionis having a bad game. He needs to learn, and with struggles comes learning. I also don’t mind some of the turnovers from the young guard.

There are two types of turnovers. There are the dumb turnovers. These are the ones that are like dribbling off your foot or throwing the ball 10 rows deep. Most of Jakucionis’ turnovers weren’t those. His turnovers were trying to be creative.

Jakucionis is always looking to create offense. He isn’t just at the top of the key pounding the rock. He wants to create points for his teammates, so sometimes he tries to fit the ball in spaces where he probably shouldn’t. But I don’t want to see that creativity stifled. Jakucionis is a star in the making, and struggles like on Wednesday night will only make him better for big games down the road.