5 disappointing observations from the Illinois basketball loss to Northwestern

3. We can’t afford to have Ben Humrichous lay an egg

The offseason was spectacular for the Illinois basketball team. We brought in an incredible haul of talent that made us instant contenders in the Big Ten.

Brad Underwood selects these players and builds a team with a mindset of each player has a role. He goes out and gets players to fill certain roles. Illinois needed a three-point ace, and we went out and snagged Ben Humrichous.

Humrichous has been solid this season. He hasn’t had any dud games yet, and he has done exactly what he was brought into the program to do. For the season, he has attempted 62 shots and 51 of those are from three-point range. He has also hit those shots at a clip of 37.3%.

The thing is, that number has dropped since the Northwestern game on Friday night. Humrichous picked a horrible time to have his worst game of the season, as he absolutely laid an egg against the Wildcats.

It wasn’t that Humrichous was taking bad shots either. He was open on nearly every shot he attempted. The Tipton, Indiana, product finished the night with three points, five rebounds, three fouls, and two blocks but only shot 1-of-9 from three-point range.

The only issue I had with Humrichous’ shots, besides them not going in the bucket, is the distance he was shooting. He was taking them from beyond the NBA three-point arc. There is no reason for that. When you come off the screen or rotate in the offense, take a step in. Don’t take that long of shots, it isn’t necessary. You aren’t getting more points the further back you take the three-point attempt.

When you are building a car, if a part of the assembly line forgets to put in the sparkplugs, that car isn’t going to run right. Illinois is kind of like an assembly line. When one player doesn’t perform his role well, the rest of the team isn’t going to run right. Illinois can’t afford to have Humrichous go 1-of-9 from three-point range.