5 big observations from the Illinois basketball win over Wisconsin

5. Illinois has so many weapons

It really is incredible the talent Illinois has from top to bottom. Brad Underwood displays this talent at different times and a different number of minutes in each contest.

I think the thing that impresses me the most about the Illinois roster is that we are prepared for any type of team we run into. Sure, we have losses on the record, but the Illini can unleash different rosters for different styles of play.

Our main starting lineup is more of a run-and-gun group. This unit can run the floor and space well. It works best when Illinois goes up against a team with smaller players, similar to that of the Illini. But when this unit runs into a more traditional big man, we have an answer for that.

Dain Dainja then comes off the bench. This happened against Wisconsin. The Badgers can unleash some size in the paint, but Dainja was able to come in and give the Illini 23 minutes. He had nine points and seven rebounds on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and made his lone free throw.

Does Illinois need fresh legs because Terrence Shannon Jr. or Marcus Domask has been going off? No problem, we just put in a fifth-year senior in Justin Harmon or a sharpshooting guard in Luke Goode. At a minimum, those two are bringing hustle to the table.

The Illini have big-time three-point shooters which other teams have to guard. When you guard us too tight on the outside, our guards can drive the ball to the hoop. If you go to more of a zone, we can get Domask to drive into the paint and post up.

Opposing teams will try to shut one facet of Illinois’ game down, but we have so many weapons that that won’t matter much. I haven’t seen an Illini team this deep in a long time. We should be dangerous in the coming weeks.