4. The All-Illness Team shouldn’t have seen action
If you are looking for critiques of Brad Underwood, you have come to the wrong place. I think he did a great job making the adjustments to how the offense ran on Saturday.
I honestly didn’t have an issue with the coaching staff and how they called the game. I didn’t have an issue with the players either. I thought we played some of the best basketball I have seen all season long.
The only issue I took in the game against Minnesota is a small one. It was the fact Illinois put the All-Illness Team out on the floor.
Tre White has been sick for a couple of games now, and entering the contest against Minnesota, it was reported that Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn had been dealing with an illness as well. These two shouldn’t have seen the court on Saturday, but for some reason, the coaching staff decided to put them in the game.
Gibbs-Lawhorn played roughly four minutes and split time between the first and second half. He didn’t look into the game, and his numbers reflected that fact. He finished with zero points, one rebound, one assist, one turnover, and three fouls.
I laughed at White’s time on the court. While it made me sad because he clearly physically didn’t want to be out there, the time he spent on the court was quite amusing. White played roughly seven seconds in the game and had two fouls. It was the quickest appearance I have ever seen by a player.
So, while everything went well on Saturday, I didn’t see the point of trying to play Gibbs-Lawhorn and White. Honestly, they probably shouldn’t have even traveled with the team. Let them stay home and rest.