Hawkins — and penicillin — save Brad Underwood

Happy Sunday, Illinois Land!

It finally happened. To the delight, shock and amazement of the sellout crowd at State Farm Center and the millions watching around the country, Illinois head basketball coach Brad Underwood did the unthinkable.

He used his bench. He showcased his depth. He made an adjustment.

Before I unpack what the bench contributed by way of effort and productivity, I want to double-click on the importance of the big four: Brad Underwood, Terrence Shannon, Jr., Coleman Hawkins and Marcus Domask.

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Despite the bench being an obvious huge story in in the 95-85 win over visiting Iowa, the Big Four will have to carry the water for this program to do anything after the regular season ends.

Here’s what SDH (Shannon-Domask-Hawkins) produced from a statistical perspective in the double digit win that that got the Illini to double digit wins in the Big Ten.

• 50 points: Hawkins (30), TSJ (12) and Domask (8)
• Field Goals: 15-30 (50%) – Hawkins was 9-11 (81.8%)
• 6-14 (42.9%) from three – Hawkins 3-5 (60%)
• 14-17 (82.4%) from the line – Hawkins was 9-11 (81.8%)
• 11 rebounds – Domask with six
• 10 assists/6 turnovers (5 by Hawkins): 1.7 assist/TO ratio
• 5 steals (all by Hawkins)

Notice the Hawkins involvement in this particular statistical breakdown. Let’s hope the online chatter off the Illinois fanbase is as boisterous about Hawkins’ play in this game as they were in the opposite direction after the worst final minute of his career in the loss at Penn State.

Hope is not a strategy. But, I digress…

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

I’m going to start tracking SDH the remainder of the year and see what the conglomeration can produce on a game-to-game basis. Shannon only had about half of his average against Iowa.

That was largely due to Iowa playing a lot of zone in this contest.

Fran McCaffery tried to remove TSJ from the contest, as much as he could. Hawkins exploited that fact and utilized drives to the bucket to get easy hoops for himself and the team as the Iowa post defenders were no match for him on the perimeter or off the dribble.

I want to make sure the horse is before the cart on this particular game. Coleman Hawkins won this game for Illinois. Not the bench. Not an adjustment by Underwood.

Here’s why. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Coleman Hawkins is the sole reason that Illinois is not on a losing streak. This doesn’t qualify as a “bounce back” game for me. This is the quintessential Hawkins experience.

Hawkins for the game: 30 points, five assists, five turnovers, five steals, two rebounds. In 29 minutes. It’s a near impossibility to stuff that much into the stat sheet in 29 minutes.

The entire fanbase — particularly me — has been begging for Hawkins to attack the hoop and take advantage of his size and skill closer to the hoop. Domask was 2-of-9 from the floor on Saturday.

If SDH can ever click at the same time, this Illinois team won’t be difficult to guard. They’ll be impossible to guard. In a literal sense.

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

That’s without mentioning Quincy Guerrier or Ty Rodgers, the other two starters. Or anyone on the bench. You’ll see below why discounting bench production may be an arithmetic error.

Here is Kyle Tausk with a look at how HBC BU summoned the bench from the depths of hell to propel the Illini to imperative victory. Read it. You’ll be smarter after doing so.

Although playing freshmen Amani Hansberry and Niccolo Moretti meaningful minutes revealed a thoughtful step forward for the Illini, curiosity kills the cat. Where was the highest-touted freshman of them all, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn?

Zero. Minutes. For DGL. Check local milk cartons for information on the freshman guard.

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

No one asked about it postgame in the presser. Underwood didn’t directly address it. The cat is dead and DGL pushes further down the enigmatic depth chart put together by a head coach and staff that seemingly flips coins to determine rotations on a game-to-game basis.

Underwood made key adjustments in this game that contributed to the win. You could say adjustments. You could also use the label of “admissions.”

Underwood finally admitted to himself, the team and the fanbase that Luke Goode is not a capable post defender or straight line defender against opposing wings of size and skill. Goode’s main contribution is shooting open shots and intangibles.

Goode played just 10 minutes in this game. That’s one adjustment/admission.

The head coach would have you believe — at times — that playing freshmen in a basketball game is the same — not similar — to leprosy. If freshmen are allowed to play in any game that is not against a bottom-100 team, it is factual that the entire roster will break out in hives and a leper colony will form in and around Ubben and State Farm Center.

They are deemed a contagious disease, with no cure. (Leprosy has a cure, but I liked the “leper colony” analogy the best.)

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

As he found out Saturday, not only is that not the case whatsoever, freshmen have the ability to do more good than harm. Hansberry and Moretti were terrific in the minutes they played.

As Tausk mentioned previously in his attached column, Underwood all but admitted that he will rethink how he uses the bench for the remainder of the season. That is the second admission, but he gets half-credit.

Underwood didn’t proactively seek this solution. He found it by accident, much like penicillin was discovered.

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

In the end, it doesn’t matter how he discovered it. Penicillin only works with a prescription and the patient taking it as directed. Moving forward, it will be curious to see if Underwood uses penicillin as indicated when the team is struggling.

It’s hard to break habits of people, particularly unusually stubborn head basketball coaches of state Universities. Watch for this as the season comes to its regular season conclusion.

Illinois played great to finish off the game against Iowa, unlike previous close games down the stretch. The bench factored in to that.

We all waxed poetically about the depth of Illinois basketball in the pre-season. As the meat and potatoes of the season arrived, Underwood’s rotation shrank and shrank.

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

SDH were all playing 35+ minutes seemingly on a nightly basis. When they are better rested, it may make a difference in the play the last quarter of the game. Let’s take a look.

With 12:16 left, a Ben Krikke layup made the score 64-57 Iowa.

The remainder of the game, the final score: 38-21, in favor of the Illini.

Admittedly, this could be due to one of these three factors: law of averages, Iowa’s porous defense or execution.

The only variable that has changed from previous games is the amount of rest that the three most important players got throughout the game. I’ll go with that. For now.

Please take The Scientific Poll.

With four games remaining in the regular season, Illinois plays one of their final two home games against Minnesota on Wednesday on Big Ten Network. Expect the Illini to be favored by around 13 points.

The remaining road games are Iowa and Wisconsin, by no means easy wins.

This is Hawkins winning a game. This is BU doing work. This is continued ambiguity.

This is Illinois basketball.