Illini Drub the Panthers, 112-67

By Jeff Mayfield

[November 05, 2024]  Well, what are we to expect of the 2024-25 Illinois Men’s basketball team? With only two returning players back from last year’s Elite Eight squad in Dra Lawhorn-Gibbs and Ty Rodgers, two good ones, there’s no denying that. So, what was Brad Underwood and the Illini coaching staff to do but jump headfirst into the transfer portal. And while that’s become the name of the game lately, we have to say that we were stunned to hear the pre-game news that Ty Rodgers decided to redshirt this season. That makes this reporter very sad as Rodgers hustling style and all-out play makes watching the games so much more fun.

Now, full disclosure here. I have loved college basketball since I was 3 years old watching the UCLA Bruins with my dad on the couch for every game. It was a thing of beauty then and it’s a thing of beauty now, However, to say that I’m a fan of the current collegiate sports landscape-I am not! I’m not a fan of NIL and I don’t care much for the transfer portal as it giveth and taketh away.

I liked the old model. I liked the recruiting process to see who we were going to get. I liked watching kids grow & develop through the years in our program. I grow close to these athletes and love supporting them. Now it’s hard to know them and just when you get to know one of them, they’re transferring to Gonzaga or San Diego State! [I just picked two random schools as I have no idea where anyone is going to go in the future]. But I digress…last night at the State Farm Center we got our first real look at this new squad. The Illini mauled the EIU panthers 112-67, but there’s more to it than that.

In these early-season contests you want to come out and take care of business and have no adventure whatsoever. You’d like to play a lot of players and see how different combinations look playing together. You’d like to be solid with control of the ball & limit turnovers and just bad overall play. It’s a great opportunity to demonstrate smart basketball plays. It’s also a great time to work on your defensive structure and begin establishing your overall team defensive concepts.

You only get 33-38 nights a year to show what you’ve got and what you’re made of. There is never a game where you can’t hustle. My favorite thing to see is who wants to work & who wants to hustle every second that clock is ticking!

With that being said, as we make our selection for our 3 stars of the game we’re still hurting from the Ty Rodgers redshirting news. Here’s tonight’s tote board:

#1*
Is going to be a tie between returner Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and true freshman Will Riley!

Dra showed that his off-season work looks to have really paid off. It wasn’t just the fact that he scored in bunches with 18 1st half points on his way to a career high 21 for the game, it was the way he got the tallies AND 4 3-pointers! His off the ball movement was done at a very high level giving the EIU Panthers fits even trying to find him. We also liked the way he stayed in system and played within the structure-he helped the floor balance-which enabled him to get open shots on the backside after ball reversals. In addition, his shooting mechanics look even better to us-when he gets the rock in the shooting pocket and is able to extend with a full follow through, he seems to know his shot is going in almost immediately. We love the confidence and swagger he brings to the floor. He also had 2 rebounds and led the way at the free throw line converting 7 of 8!

What can you say about Will Riley’s Illini debut…how ‘bout scintillating! Or does that sound too much like Dick Vitale, baby? We knew he would be good, but not only did he score at will [sorry] but he always seemed to be at the exact right spot at the exact right time. IF he’s an example of what recruiting higher level athletes is going to look like, then deal us in! Check out his line- 10 of 13 made shots including 5 of 6 from distance, 6 of 7 from the charity stripe, 7 rebounds including 4 offensive, 3 assists, and one block all leading to 31 points in 25 minutes of action! The bigger question-where wasn’t he? We may have spotted him selling the new Smith burgers in his spare time. His smoothness brought an electricity to the court that we think Illini fans are going to adore! Not many times has a freshman crashed our stars list much less reached the #1 status, but this was an easy call!

#2*
Tomislav Ivisic

We had to go with the big fella here. A double double in his first time in a collegiate uniform finishing with 14 points to match 14 rebounds. To us-it looks like he has a sweeter touch than many led us to believe judging by his 7 of 9 free throw performance. That will come in handy in Big Ten action that has become a bludgeon fest in the paint. His shooting range is deeper than some suspect and IF he can consistently hit some of those it will force bigs to come out & at least respect that, opening up the lanes for driving and attacking. We think this guy has a huge ceiling and the better he gets the better this team will perform. We did get a huge scare when he went down holding his foot near the EIU bench-he was helped off & was taken to the Illini locker room presumably to get taped or re-taped! But when he came back onto the floor, he seemed undaunted and unfazed by the injury. He also added a steal and 2 assists and seems to really pass the rock well for a big man.

#3*
Ben Humrichous

An outstanding showing for Ben on opening night. LDN’s own Greg Taylor [check out the archive of Direct Line on Danville radio] had Ben on his show the other day and so we were ready to see what he could do and he did not disappoint. 14 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block. We’ll take those kinds of contributions every night!

Honorable Mention

We could have easily tabbed Kasparas Jakucionis for the 3rd spot or even a tie but he was solid directing the Illini offense. Many times our leading distributor had a max of 5 assists in the past, but Kasparas had 7 assists in his Illinois debut to go along with 11 points and 5 rebounds. We sense that this guy will rise even higher when the competition gets tougher, but all in all a great performance on opening night.

We were also excited to see Morez Johnson and to say the least, he got our attention. He finished the night with 8 rebounds and 6 blocks-talk about a guy willing to do the dirty work?! He was around the ball all night, made some nice tip outs and kept several plays and possessions alive. We’ll enjoy seeing more of him!

Well that’s a wrap on opening night-a good way to get it all started. The Illini will next host SIUE Friday night at 7pm.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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