5 huge observations from the Illinois basketball win over Morehead State

2. You have to give Luke Goode his flowers

The entire Illinois bench had an incredible game. I touched on how great Dain Dainja was for the Illini, but I think we should acknowledge the contributions of Luke Goode as well.

Throughout much of his career, the Goode roller coaster has been a wild one. There are times he has been terrible on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court. Leading up to the Nebraska game in the Big Ten Tournament, he wasn’t playing well on defense, and he had scored just 12 points in the six games prior.

Goode dropped 12 points in that Nebraska game, but then he came out against Wisconsin and laid an egg. He failed to score a single point in 15 minutes against the Badgers. So, who knew what we would get out of Goode in the NCAA tournament?

Well, now we know. Goode came out on fire. He finished the game with nine points, four rebounds, and one assist on 3-of-4 shooting, all of which were from three-point range.

Goode was smart offensively. He didn’t take bad shots, and the only one he missed was wide-open. Goode moved when his teammates were in trouble, which gave them a clear passing lane to get him the ball.

On defense, Goode wasn’t a liability in the least bit. He hustled all over the court and went up for rebounds. His hustle alone wins a lot of Illinois fans over, but when you mix that with great offense, you have a dynamic player.

Goode was big for Illinois in the first round of the NCAA tournament. If we get this Goode the rest of the way, Illinois is going to be a very dangerous team.