3. Someone needs to wake up Ben Humrichous again
Illinois missing our starting big man is brutal. Tomislav Ivisic gives us so much. On top of that, Kasparas Jakucionis didn’t have a good game. Ivisic is allowed to miss games and Jakucionis will have bad nights. They are human.
Other Illinois players need to help out, though. We need an experienced roster to rally around these two, whether they are on the court or not, and pull this team through a tough time. That isn’t happening.
The main player I am looking at is Ben Humrichous. He isn’t a first-year player, as he spent his first four seasons playing with two other programs. Humrichous is a fifth-year player, and he needs to utilize that experience to help Illinois win big games like the one on Thursday.
Humrichous isn’t doing that, though. He is back to playing bad basketball, and it hinders Illinois greatly. Against the Terrapins, Humrichous finished with zero points, five rebounds, two blocks, and one assist. He also had three fouls and went 0-of-3 from the field, all of which were three-point attempts.
In 26 minutes, Illinois’ fifth-year starting wing gave the program zero points. He couldn’t convert one shot. And it is not like he is a defensive ace. Humrichous is too small to guard anyone in the post, and he is too slow to guard backcourt players.
I honestly believe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring Humrichous off the bench. It won’t happen, as Brad Underwood doesn’t change lineups, but having Humrichous as more of a spark plug rather than a player to be relied on would be a better option at this point.