Big Ten after dark is something that Illinois basketball fans are going to have to get used to.
It was a late start game for the Illini, as we headed to the west coast to take on the Oregon Ducks. This was supposed to be a great game that featured two of the best teams in the country going at it.
Well, through the first 20 minutes, it was a well-contested game. Illinois put up a 45-spot in the first half while Oregon kept pace and scored 38 of their own. In the second half, everything changed.
Illinois put on the jets and left the Ducks in the dust. Just over three minutes into the second half, the Illini turned a seven-point lead into a 21-point lead. The shots continued to fall for Illinois as well. There was no slowing down. Everyone was hitting from everywhere.
By the time the final horn blew and the dust settled, Illinois emerged with a 109-77 win over Oregon.
Here are five big observations from the Illinois basketball win over Oregon
1. Oregon woke up a sleeping giant named Ben
Illinois was able to land Ben Humrichous out of the transfer portal this past summer. He was a great get on paper, as his shooting numbers were exactly what the Illini were looking for to replace production from an Elite 8 squad.
Humrichous has great size at 6-foot-9, and he can hit from three-point range. You could see instantly that he had a ton of potential to help the Orange and Blue win games. But that potential hadn’t come to the surface for most of the season.
Coming into the game on Thursday night, Humrichous had played in 12 games for the Illini and was pretty underwhelming. He had a couple of good games where he hit double-digit points or shot decent from three-point range, but his contributions hadn’t been even close to being fully felt.
Illinois then traveled to Eugene, Oregon, and everything changed. Everything started to click for Humrichous. He started the game not on the three-point line but rather driving the ball and getting to the bucket. This was refreshing because he got to see the ball go in the hoop. That confidence fed into a big night for the star three-point threat.
Humrichous finished the night with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point territory. In the previous five contests, the most three-point shots he had made was one. Humrichous hadn’t shot over 33.3% from distance in any of those games either.
My hope is that this isn’t a one-off game. I think there is a solid chance that the Ducks woke a sleeping giant with Humrichous having a big game. Let’s see if he can have a big encore moment against Washington this weekend.