5 devastating observations from the Illinois basketball loss to Michigan State

I think I have said this multiple times this season, but this might be the most disappointed I have been for the Illinois basketball team in 2024-25.

The Illini had a double-digit lead at one time against Michigan State, but we let it all slip away. Illinois still had a 41-37 lead at halftime, and things seemed to be leveling out. The second half started, and it was a good back-and-forth between two talented Big Ten squads.

Once the 10-minute mark hit, everything went off the rails. Illinois stopped scoring, and Michigan State took control of the game. A one point Illini lead with 10 minutes left turned into a 79-65 loss to Michigan State.

Buckle up, this is the first observations article where I didn’t type anything positive. Enjoy.

Here are five devastating observations from the Illinois basketball loss to the Michigan State Spartans

1. Illinois once again played undisciplined basketball

This is by far the most frustrating Illinois basketball team of my lifetime. I went through the John Groce era of wishing to make the bubble, and without a doubt, what I am experiencing right now is more, annoying for a lack of a better term.

I have no doubt as I type this that Illinois has a lot of talent. We are trotting out a top-five NBA Draft pick, the most unique center I have ever seen, and another center who has all-time rebounding potential. Still, this team is playing some of the most undisciplined basketball I have ever seen.

Illinois is not a good three-point shooting team, and I have been screaming that from the mountaintops. It is like we are in denial that we can’t shoot three-pointers. But there are moments of clarity, and the team runs well when we aren’t chucking up bad shots from deep.

In the UCLA game just days ago, Illinois had a 16-point lead with 4:25 to go in the game. All you have to do is kill time and get the ball inside. They will foul you. Instead, Illinois chucks up three three-point attempts and misses them all. This allows UCLA to gets going, and in the blink of an eye, it is a two point game.

On Saturday, that was the case for Illinois, but it was magnified. With 10 minutes to go in the game, the Illini had a 61-60 lead over Michigan State. All we had to do was continue getting the ball in the paint and use our big men and great driving guards to cause chaos and get to the free throw line.

Instead, Illinois rested on our three-point shooting that ranks No. 308 out of 364 teams in the country. In that final 10 minutes of action, Illinois was 0-of-13 from three-point range. That isn’t a typo. Illinois attempted 13 three-pointers. In the final 10 minutes of the game.

Just think about that for a second. In the first 30 minutes of action, Illinois only took 20 three-point attempts. In the final 10 minutes, we took 13 three-point attempts. That is 39.1% of our three-point shots came in the final 10 minutes despite being up one point at the time. That, to me, is extremely undisciplined basketball.

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.

3. Inconsistent play is killing Illinois

When Illinois is playing B or better basketball, we are a fun team to watch. This program is nearly unstoppable when that happens, but the bad part about all of this is that it doesn’t happen often anymore.

I am getting tired of the inconsistent basketball by the team and by certain players. As a team, the inconsistency stems from getting lazy. We start getting the rock inside and using our talented big men to get buckets around the hoop. The switch then flips, and Illinois starts chucking up three-pointers and lets teams back in the game.

At the end of the day, when it comes to inconsistent play with the team, I believe Brad Underwood has something to do with it. He always wants quick shots and to shoot as many three-pointers as possible. That is good when you have good shooters, but Illinois does not have good shooters. Adjustments need to be made, and he needs to stop being so stubborn.

When it comes to player inconsistency, I think it is time to stop trying to make Ben Humrichous work. Sometimes you recruit a player from a lower level, and he ends up being not as good as advertised. This could be that at the higher level, players are more athletic and more physical, and that has been an issue for Humrichous. I would also like for him to drive and post up a little more, but that doesn’t happen nearly enough.

In the game against Michigan State, Humrichous was arguably worse than Kasparas Jakucionis. He finished the night with six points, six rebounds, one assist, one block, one turnover, and one foul. He also shot 3-of-10 from the field and 0-of-6 from three-point range. Six points in 31 minutes of action, when you are supposed to be Illinois’ three-point specialist, are brutal numbers.

Humrichous isn’t the only frustratingly inconsistent player. Kylan Boswell, I am looking at you. He has had two double-digit scoring games in the last six contests. Over the last three games, Boswell is 2-of-9 from the field and has a total of 15 points in 86 minutes of action. We need more from one of the most experienced players on the court.

4. Where the heck was Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn

Illinois has been going through some illness issues the past month or so, and this has affected the roster quite a bit. But we are coming out of this funk, and the team is starting to get healthy again.

One of the many players who was sick in the past week or so was Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn. He shouldn’t have played in the Minnesota game, as he was sick in that contest. Gibbs-Lawhorn then played seven minutes against UCLA to get his feet underneath him again.

In the Michigan State contest, Gibbs-Lawhorn was good to go. He had a chance to be a spark plug for the Illini, but for some reason, we didn’t get to see him against the Spartans.

Gibbs-Lawhorn only played three minutes in the game. He gave Illinois an offensive rebound in that time, but Brad Underwood then pulled him and we never saw him again. He played fewer minutes than in the game when he was sick.

This was a mind-blowing mistake by the Illinois coaching staff. How do you let this kid just sit on the bench? Illinois needed better guard play for much of the night, and Gibbs-Lawhorn could have provided a much-needed jolt to the team, especially down the stretch when we missed our last 19 shots of the game.

Instead of subbing in Gibbs-Lawhorn for more than three minutes, Brad Underwood and the Illini coaching staff rolled with Kylan Boswell, who gave us 29 minutes and failed to score a single point. Underwood realized this after the game too.

This was a massive coaching blunder. The spark that Gibbs-Lawhorn has provided this team on numerous occasions this season has helped us win games. You let that rot on the bench while our guards looked lost on the court. That is a bad look.

5. Brad Underwood has to make some adjustments

This was not a good night for Brad Underwood. He and his coaching staff had a rough game, and it manifested in different forms.

I mentioned in the last slide how Underwood didn’t sub in Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn. This kid has been great for the program this season, and Underwood only played him three minutes in the game. That was unacceptable.

A big issue that continues to pop up with Underwood is that he needs to adjust when players are struggling. This is definitely a blind spot for him, and his stubbornness gets in the way of the flow of the game.

The Gibbs-Lawhorn situation is a lack of adjustment. He could have helped give this program a spark. Another lack of adjustment is riding with Kylan Boswell so much. That goes hand-in-hand with Gibbs-Lawhorn not playing.

Another adjustment that needs to be made is that Ben Humrichous needs to come off the bench. He could be a spark guy for the program as a sixth or seventh man, but he isn’t a starting player in the Big Ten. He is playing 31 minutes, and I am not sure if he is talented enough to play 13 minutes. Bring Humrichous off the bench.

Let’s move Will Riley into the starting lineup. I know it is fun having a weapon like Riley coming off the bench, but right now, Illinois needs him starting. He is too good not to start for the Illini. While Riley is getting starter minutes, he isn’t leading the game off. Have him take Humrichous’ starting job.

Those are just a few of the adjustments that Underwood isn’t making when it comes to players. On the court, he is struggling with change.

Underwood likes to shoot as many three-pointers as possible, and he has said this in numerous interviews. That isn’t working with this team. Feed the ball in the paint to two of the best big men I have ever seen for this program. You are wasting talent by jacking up three-point shots at a high rate.

Creativity isn’t great for the Illini either. Underwood needs to adjust his style to fit his players. Kasparas Jakucionis is a great point guard. Illinois needs to get him and Tomislav Ivisic or Morez Johnson Jr. into more pick-and-roll situations. These three could be like the 1990s Utah Jazz with John Stockton and Karl Malone. Bring basketball back to the basics.

At the end of the day, do I think any of this will happen? No, I think Underwood might be too stubborn to make the changes. Hopefully, I am wrong.