Twice, a deathly hush fell over the Assembly Hall crowd Tuesday night.

This wasn’t the dull, lazed hush that permeated the crowd for the majority of another lackluster home performance by Illinois in a 10-point win over Norfolk State.

No, these were unnatural hushes that filled the gym after Illini guards D.J. Richardson and Tracy Abrams went down with injuries in the first and second halves, respectively.

Richardson’s injury, a high-shoulder contusion, came with two minutes left in the first half, when the guard ran into a Norfolk State player near the midcourt scorer’s table. Abrams went down in high-flying fashion with less than 3 ½ minutes left in the game. The sophomore point guard darted cross court to intercept a pass, Ed Reed-style, only to collide full-on with Spartans guard Malcolm Hawkins. Both players went down, but Abrams stayed there rolling on the floor in pain while grasping his lower right leg, only feet away from the fear-stricken Orange Krush.

Despite the initial fright, both players returned to the game. Richardson was not in the starting lineup after halftime but made a successful return, hitting several big shots while playing 13 minutes.

Abrams re-entered the game twice as an offensive sub in the final minute but was clearly hampered by his right shin contusion, planting and cutting only tentatively off his right foot.

But even though neither injury appeared serious, the palpable dread was representative of a greater problem with these Illini, who, despite starting 11-0 and ranking in the top 10, are not without cracks in the armor.

The lack of height and size in the frontcourt has been well-chronicled, but it is only a part of a more significant issue: Illinois’ weak bench and lack of depth.

Illinois head coach John Groce entered the season hoping for a rotation of at least nine players to execute his fast-paced, up-tempo scheme. Yet no such rotation has developed — the Illini’s lack of depth could become a problem.

The starting five has been locked in since the second exhibition game — Nnanna Egwu, Tyler Griffey, Brandon Paul, Richardson and Abrams. Joseph Bertrand, Sam McLaurin and Myke Henry have alternated as first man off the bench, although Henry has been inconsistent at best. He received only eight minutes of playing time against Norfolk State despite the injuries to Richardson and Abrams.

Devin Langford has been used sporadically off the bench at the wing position to fill out that nine-man rotation, but his lack of any semblance of an offensive game is incredibly detrimental to an offense that is often one-dimensional (jump-shooting) even when he’s not in the game.

Freshman walk-on Mike LaTulip and sophomore forward Mike Shaw have seen minimal time in meaningful minutes.

Shaw’s most notable play so far this year was a banked-in 3-pointer against Western Carolina. Anyone watching LaTulip getting his ankles broken at the top of the key Tuesday night knows he can’t play enough defense to stay in the game.

So when Griffey struggles as he has the last two games (against bigger, more Big Ten-like teams), or Egwu gets in early foul trouble, or if any of the Illini’s guards suffer an injury, Groce has nobody to replace those minutes. The most likely candidate is Langford, who provides solid defense and rebounding but is a liability on offense.

That maybe is the most disappointing result of the Illini’s failure to put away games against lesser opponents at home. Time that could have been spent developing the raw offensive games of the gifted Langford or Shaw instead went to the regulars as Illinois fought to close out games.

It may not show on their record so far, but those struggles could manifest as the Illini enter the rigorous Big Ten schedule.

Daniel is senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected] and @danielmillermc.