5 big observations from the Illinois basketball win over Michigan

3. Best game from Justin Harmon in a while

The bench has been up and down for the past couple of weeks. Luke Goode hasn’t been the normal Goode over the past few games, and Justin Harmon has essentially sleptwalked through 2024.

Illinois needs these guys to start clicking and playing better. With the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA tournament quickly approaching, Illinois needs the bench to be clicking so we can bring home some hardware.

On Tuesday night, Harmon started to wake up a bit. He had his best game since the middle of January. Harmon finished with eight points, three rebounds, and two steals while shooting 4-of-6 from the field.

I noticed that Harmon wasn’t settling for three-point shots anymore. He only took one against Michigan. Instead, he was driving to the basket and showing off his talent. For the majority of the season, I thought Harmon was just a spot-up three-point shooter. He is proving me wrong, though.

Harmon’s eight points is the most he has had since the Rutgers game back on January 21. His two steals and shooting 66.7% from the field were also season-highs.

If Harmon can start playing efficient basketball and giving Illinois big minutes as he did against Michigan, then we could have such a dangerous team come March. Harmon is a big piece of the puzzle.