Illinois Basketball: Evaluation of the Northern Kentucky Norse
The Illinois basketball team is coming off a good opening win against Southeast Missouri State on Friday.
Illinois needs to parlay that win into another win today when they take on the Northern Kentucky Norse.
Northern Kentucky Overview
The Norse are 1-0 this season with their lone win over Earlham. This wasn’t a win over a DI opponent, but it was a 41-point confidence builder nonetheless.
Leading Scorer
The leading scorer for Northern Kentucky so far this season is freshman forward, Carson Williams.
Williams is a 6-foot-5, 230-pound forward that can really throw his weight around the paint.
In the first game against Earlham, Williams dropped 15 points in just 15 minutes of play. That is an impressive number considering he was averaging a point a minute.
Williams also managed to grab 3 rebounds and had a blocked shot as well.
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Leading Assister
Lavone Holland II was the Norse leading assist man against Earlham. He had 5 assists in the victory to go along with his 5 points and 2 rebounds.
This was a solid game for Holland. He picked up right where he left off last season when he averaged 10.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG and 4 APG.
But, the one caveat to Holland’s game is that he is sloppy.
Last season Holland averaged 3 turnovers per game. He has already increased that number this season as he had 5 turnovers in the game against Earlham.
Illinois needs to prey on the fact that Northern Kentucky’s point guard is sloppy. This will inevitably turn into fast-break points on the other end.
Leading Rebounder
The most dominating player so far this season for Northern Kentucky is Jeff Garrett.
Garrett is a 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward who put up an incredible stat line in the game against Earlham.
In his first game as a college basketball player, Garrett put up 12 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. This is a great stat line if you played all 40-minutes in the game.
But, Garrett only played 18 minutes in the game against Earlham. Those are absolutely insane numbers and something Illinois should be looking out for.
I am hoping that the Illini’s athleticism is too much for Garrett and the Norse. This should stop him from going off like this again.
Overall Evaluation
Northern Kentucky clearly has an emerging player with Garrett. He has a lot of talent, but I don’t think there is much around him.
I think Illinois can focus on Garrett and the rest of the team will fold around him.
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