2. Amani Hansberry has me excited about the future
I would argue that the Amani Hansberry minutes against UConn might have been the most fun minutes of the entire game. He checked in when Illinois was down by a massive margin, so we got to see the Hansberry repertoire without anything holding him back.
That repertoire was quite impressive. I already knew he was a strong player. I was wanting to see what he could do defensively against the UConn big man, but we didn’t get much of that. Hansberry’s strength is going to be a huge asset next season.
The attribute that stood out the most about Hansberry’s game against the Huskies was his ability to shoot from three-point range. This isn’t just a bulky big man. Hansberry has a nice shot and will be dangerous in seasons to come.
Hansberry finished the game with eight points and a rebound. The eight points he scored in garbage time ended up being tied for second on the team, which says a lot about how much we struggled offensively against UConn.
It was fun to see Hansberry playing fun and free basketball. There were no restrictions on him because we were down by so many points. This was just a glimpse of what we could see next season. He, among others, has me excited about the future of Illinois basketball.