5 huge observations from the Illinois basketball win over Morehead State

5. Brad Underwood didn’t force the lineup

I was really proud of Brad Underwood on Thursday. This is a coach who has been stubborn at times with his lineups, but he made some adjustments against Morehead State.

Underwood went with his standard starting lineup of Terrence Shannon Jr., Marcus Domask, Ty Rodgers, Quincy Guerrier, and Coleman Hawkins. That lineup has been set in stone for much of the season.

Shannon, Domask, and Hawkins had good games against Morehead State, but both Rodgers and Guerrier were struggling. They each had their own issues with the Eagles’ lineup, and they just couldn’t get going.

Instead of staying the course and having those two figure it out on the fly, Underwood started rotating his bench players into the game and leaving them in. He didn’t pull the reserves and let them continue to stay hot out on the court.

Underwood wasn’t stubborn against Morehead State. He only played Rodgers for 13 minutes and Guerrier for 12 minutes. While these two will continue to start and are extremely talented, Underwood knows who had the hot hand on Thursday.

This ability to adapt to his surroundings is impressive. Underwood has done this with the recruiting landscape, and now he is doing it with his lineups. Riding with Dain Dainja, Luke Goode, and even Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn paid off in this situation. It was a great adjustment from one of the greatest coaches in program history.