Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Michigan

5. Illinois doesn’t have to rely on one player

When Illinois lost our leading scorer just weeks ago, I thought the team was going to need a go-to guy to step up and take over. I thought we needed some type of leader who put up 20+ points each night.

I don’t think that is the case with this Illini unit. Illinois doesn’t have to rely on one player to go off for the team to see success. This is truly a team effort, and it impresses me.

Illinois had five players score at least 11 points against Michigan, which included one player off the bench. The only player in the starting lineup who didn’t score double-digit points was Luke Goode, who still went 3-of-5 from the field and had four big rebounds.

Speaking of rebounds, six different Illinois players had at least two rebounds and two players had at least 10 rebounds. Five Illinois players had an assist with three players with at least three assists.

Over the past six games, Illinois has had three different leading scorers, three different players lead in assists, and three different players lead in rebounds.

As time goes on and the team continues to gel with the new-look lineup, I continue to think that this might be one of the best Illinois basketball teams in the last 20 years. We have great size, we can shoot from three-point range, we can bang around in the paint, and our defense is stellar. Let’s enjoy what we are watching. This is truly a team effort.