Sign up for our daily basketball newsletter here
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:
The moment wasn’t too big for Illinois’ freshmen in Sunday’s exhibition game against Illinois State. David Mirkovic dominated, putting up 19 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Brandon Lee was perfect from the field en route to 17 points. Keaton Wagler didn’t try to do too much — outsized expectations for him aside — and added nine points.
“You get out of this what you want,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “You play in front of fans and see who can play with the lights on. You see who makes the right plays at the right time when the heat is on. That was nice to see.
“I’ve said all along I thought our freshmen were advanced in terms of not being lost. I know it’s October. This group, in part because some of the injuries, have had an expedited fall. They’ve gotten a ton of reps. We’ve had 10-11 in practice, so they’re getting a full dose.”
The only clear nitpick — at least for Lee and Wagler — was the number of fouls they committed. Wagler had five in 28 minutes and benefited from the pregame agreement that no one could foul out in the exhibition. Lee had four fouls in 22 minutes.
“There’s a mental maturity to that,” Underwood said. “I think both of those young guys made some freshmen mistakes fouling wise. That’s one of the things we’ve got to clean up. That’s one of the stats you don’t want to have the most of is fouls.”