5 frustrating observations from the Illinois basketball loss to Northwestern

4. More perimeter action needs ran for Justin Harmon

At the end of the day, I am not too made at the Illinois offense. When you put up 91 points, you should win every game. The Illini offense wasn’t to blame for this loss.

But there is always room for improvement in any area of the court. I think Brad Underwood and the Illinois coaching staff need to put a bigger focus on getting Justin Harmon more involved in the offense.

Harmon didn’t have a game that would blow you away against the Wildcats. He finished with six points on 2-of-8 shooting from the floor and 1-of-2 from three-point range. Harmon’s specialty on the court is when he is set up in his spot behind the three-point arc. He found that spot twice and made 50% of his shots from deep.

Illinois isn’t looking for Harmon nearly enough, though. I mentioned this in the big questions article before the game, but when Harmon scores seven or more points, Illinois is 9-0. The Illini are now 5-5 when Harmon scores under seven points.

I think a problem over the last couple of games is the lack of ball movement. When Illinois was a man down, the ball would move so much better. This would get the team better looks, mainly someone like Harmon, who relies on spot-up shooting.

I would like for the Illini to get Harmon more involved in the offensive game plan. We can’t just lean on Terrence Shannon Jr. and Marcus Domask. This is a team, so let’s act like it.