There were two parts to No. 25 Illinois men’s basketball’s season opener. The first was a demoralizing first 12 minutes of trailing while the latter featured a 28-point turnaround in as many minutes. Heading into Friday night’s matchup against Oakland, the focus will be on simultaneously eliminating the poor start and maintaining the strong finish.

Illinois will take the stage at 7 p.m. opposite an Oakland team that started its season against Ohio State. Despite exiting Columbus with a loss, the Golden Grizzlies put up an extremely valiant effort and even held the lead for significant stretches in both halves (79-73).

Graduate guard Jack Gohlke was Oakland’s leading scorer, earning all 18 of his points from behind the arc on 6-18 splits. The leading playmaker (4) and rebounder (9) was junior forward Trey Townsend, who also threatened Gohlke’s title as the leading scorer (17). Friday will be no walk in the park for the Illini and if they get off to another slow start, the punishment could be even more dire. 

Offensive rebounding and free throws were the biggest inhibitors for the Illini in their last time out. Illinois’ starting five reeled in just one offensive rebound compared to eight by the opposition’s starters. On the other hand, the Illini had no trouble getting to the free throw line but getting it through the rim was where problems arose (12-23). This is a continuation of struggles that began in Illinois’ two exhibition games, where it made just 33 of its 54 shots from the line. 

It’s the lack of getting back misses that concerns head coach Brad Underwood the most, especially since that has been an explicit focus for the Illini this season. 

“We got 52% of our misses back a year ago,” Underwood said. “And they (Eastern Illinois) were 319th — I think — in defensive rebound percentage last year. We talked ad nauseam about offensive rebounding … We had one offensive rebound from our starters, that’s disappointing. I’m disappointed in that.”

At the end of the day, Illinois still walked away with a sizable win and a lot to be happy about. For Underwood, most of that joy stemmed from the bench, and it’s not hard to see why. Redshirt junior Dain Dainja made his presence felt on the glass and was the only Illini with more than one offensive rebound while guys like junior guard Luke Goode provided a burst of energy on both ends. 

To top it all off, freshman guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn cruised to an incredibly efficient team-high 18 points in his first game at the collegiate level. This built on a trend that was established against Kansas, where the team’s best player in practice performed exceptionally well in-game.

“Extremely happy with our guys off the bench,” Underwood said. “I thought Luke Goode came in and immediately sparked us. It’s no coincidence that a week before the Kansas scrimmage Quincy Guerrier was the best player on the court. This week, it’s no coincidence that Dra (Gibbs-Lawhorn) was the best player on the court, in practice. The correlation is very much evident in terms of their production.”

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