Illinois (6-2, 0-1) lost its Big Ten opener to Northwestern (7-3, 1-1) in Evanston, 70-66. It was the Illini’s third straight loss at Welsh Ryan Arena, with the Wildcats taking care of their home court once again despite a large presence of Illini fans in the crowd.
Illinois shot the ball poorly and didn’t grab offensive rebounds, eventually falling in overtime to a Northwestern team that seemed to not miss at the end of the game. The Illini struggled across the board, and their talent was not enough to get over the edge.
Kylan Boswell (D+): Junior guard Kylan Boswell was a non-factor for the Illini. Heading into this game, Boswell started with a rocky season. His most recent game against Arkansas, when he scored 18 points on 60% shooting, was his best yet. However, in the game before that, he only scored three points against Little Rock. That inconsistency and streakiness have plagued Boswell’s start to the year.
Against Northwestern, Boswell had one of his rougher games, which seems to be the new normal. Boswell played a whopping 41 minutes but shot only 3-11 from the field en route to six points. As one of the team’s primary ball handlers, he only dished out two assists and turned it over three times.
The questions surrounding Boswell are not about if he can be effective; he’s done it in prior games. However, the consistency and streakiness of his play must improve as the season progresses.
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Kasparas Jakučionis (A): After a slow first half offensively in which he shot 1-4 from the field and turned it over three times, freshman guard Kasparas Jakučionis heated up in the second half and overtime. He scored 18 of his 20 points after halftime, all from three-pointers. Jakučionis shot lights out, going 6-10 from three, and he only turned it over once after the break.
Jakučionis finished with a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double, the second of his career. He has now scored 20-plus points in three straight games. Additionally, he handed out seven assists, adding another impressive playmaking game to his resume.
His takeover in the second half showed he was the best player on the floor. It is why he is listed as the projected No. 6 overall pick in next year’s NBA Draft in Bleacher Report’s most recent mock draft. However, without much help from his supporting cast, even a strong performance for the freshman could not propel Illinois to the finish line on Friday.
Tre White (C+): Junior guard Tre White played 15 minutes for Illinois against Northwestern. He came off a game against Arkansas in which he didn’t register any stats in the box score in 10 minutes, and it was an improvement for White this time. White scored four points on 2-3 shooting, which is not spectacular, but it was efficient and much better than his no-show on Thanksgiving.
Ben Humrichous (F): It was easily the worst game of the season for graduate student forward Ben Humrichous. He took a high volume of threes, nine to be exact, but only one dropped in his 39 minutes on the court.
Humrichous entered the game shooting 42.9% from deep but was an absolute black hole for the Illini. The attempts Humrichous got were usually good looks, but he took them from well beyond the three-point line. His poor shooting especially hurt Illinois late in the game when it got close, missing both three-point attempts in overtime.
Humrichous also struggled on the defensive end. He was the primary defender for Northwestern junior forward Nick Martinelli, but he couldn’t stop his offensive barrage. Martinelli scored a game-high 27 points on an efficient 11-20 shooting, including scoring seven of the Wildcats’ 14 overtime points. Humrichous couldn’t seem to handle the assignment.
Overall, it was an extremely rough showing for Humrichous on both ends of the floor, as nothing seemed to be going right for him. He ended the game with only three points.
Tomislav Ivišić (A): Sophomore center Tomislav Ivišić played well as usual for the Illini. Ivišić registered his third straight and fifth double-double this season, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. He has scored in double figures in all eight of the Illini’s games this season.
Ivišić also showed his playmaking abilities, dishing out five assists, including a sweet behind-the-back pass to freshman forward Will Riley. There’s not much to be said about Ivišić that hasn’t been said before. He’s showing that he can consistently and efficiently produce for Illinois and will be one of its best players on the floor night in and night out.
Will Riley (C-): It was a tale of two halves for Riley, with 11 points in the first half on 4-7 shooting. He missed both his threes in the first half but otherwise played well.
That all changed in the second half, though. Riley missed all four shots in the second half and only scored one point from a free throw. In overtime, he was also a non-factor, playing all five minutes but only taking one shot, which he missed.
Riley is supposed to be a sharpshooting scorer for the Illini, and much like Humrichous, he couldn’t get anything from deep, going 0-6. This is his second straight game shooting poorly after he went 2-9 from Arkansas, including 1-5 from deep. He produced more against Northwestern, but his bad second half hurt Illinois.
Morez Johnson Jr. (A-): Freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. was effective in his 11 minutes on the floor, scoring six points on 3-4 shooting and grabbing five rebounds. Despite Humrichous getting bullied on defense and with Johnson known as a much more physical defender, head coach Brad Underwood didn’t play Johnson as much down the stretch.
Johnson only played one minute in overtime when Northwestern attacked the paint. Although he got on the court for very limited minutes, Johnson’s per-36 numbers were strong once again: 19.6 points and 16.4 rebounds on Friday night.
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (D): Where did sophomore guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn go? After playing double-digit minutes in Illinois’ first seven games, Gibbs-Lawhorn only played nine minutes against Northwestern and did absolutely nothing.
It was straight zeroes across the stat sheet for Gibbs-Lawhorn, besides the three fouls he picked up. In a game that featured a poor-shooting Boswell playing 39 minutes, Gibbs-Lawhorn needed to step up in his limited minutes. He may have potentially earned more playing time if he did.
Jake Davis (C): Sophomore forward Jake Davis only played two minutes, registering an assist and missing one shot. There was nothing good and nothing bad from Davis. He will continue to play extremely limited minutes, especially in close games.
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