2. That was the worst half of Kasparas Jakucionis’ Illinois career
Nearly every Illinois basketball player had a terrible game on Saturday. When you look at the full box score, it doesn’t look like Kasparas Jakucionis had that bad of a game, though.
Jakucionis ended the night with 17 points, five rebounds, one assist, and one steal on 5-of-15 shooting from the field and 2-of-9 from three-point range. He also made all five of his free throws in 37 minutes of action.
Is that Jakucionis’ best game? No, not by any means. But, on paper, it doesn’t look horrible. Paper is deceiving, though. Let’s break down the halves for this talented freshman guard.
Jakcuionis had an extremely efficient and good first half of basketball against Michigan State. He had 13 points, four rebounds, and one assist while shooting 5-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-4 from three-point range. This good first 20 minutes is why Illinois was leading the Spartans at halftime.
And then the second half happened.
There was no excuse for what Illinois basketball fans saw in the second half out of this team. Jakucionis is supposed to be the leader of the Illini, and he came out of the halftime locker room and laid an egg.
Jakucionis was forcing shots throughout the second half. He wasn’t taking shots in stride, and he wasn’t creating for others. It was like every Illinois player was playing their own game and trying to get their own, and Jakucionis was the leader of this disappointing brand of basketball.
In the second half alone, Jakucionis had four points, one rebound, one steal, two fouls, and one turnover. He also shot 0-of-7 from the field and 0-of-5 from three-point range. His four points came from the free throw line.
Your best player is someone who should be able to right the ship when things are going badly. Instead of Jakucionis taking over games and trying to get Illinois over the hump, he is contributing to selfish, me-first, basketball.