Jaylon Tate and Malcolm Hill (along with Kendrick Nunn to a lesser extent) have been the bright spots in what has been a very dark season.
In our latest bracketology, Illinois didn’t even make the “first four out” or “next four out” category. Beating a really bad Rutgers team tonight at home won’t exactly move the Illini onto the bubble, but a loss would be crippling to any fleeting NCAA Tournament chances.
Yet this is not another “Negative Ned” Illini basketball op-ed/column/essay. We’re here to talk Malcolm Hill and Jaylon Tate, the good stuff.
Of course, to get we have to “clear the brush” by talking about the gloom and doom.
This cursed Illini basketball season began last spring when Darius Paul was suspended from the team for an entire year due to failed drug tests and an underage drinking arrest. The little brother of Illini icon Brandon Paul, Darius would have been huge for a team that lacks inside punch.
Then came the preseason, when we learned Tracy Abrams would be gone for the year with a torn ACL. The Illini have really missed his leadership and intangibles.
Then we found out the transfers were in actuality worse than we expected them to be. In Aaron Cosby’s case, much worse. Cosby entered late January with the second worst FG% of any player in the nation who qualified.
After that Rayvonte Rice broke his hand and missed a few important weeks. Obviously when he was set to return, his suspension was announced (along with Cosby).
The announcement of their suspension included no reason, no explanation, and no timeline for their return. In John Groce’s first media availability following the announcement, he refused to provide any further information.
Groce’s second and third media availabilities also saw him refusing to provide any more information. This is another story/article for another time.
Even when there isn’t bad news to discuss, Groce is usually vanilla and corporate during his press conferences. He uses a lot more cliche coachspeak than his predecessor Bruce Weber did. In times good, times bad and times neutral, Weber was usually a lot more informative than Groce.
Of course, if Rice and Cosby haven’t committed any crimes, then it’s well within Groce’s rights to keep information regarding the infraction locked down. It’s his team and if he wants to keep the details of the malfeasance between him and his players, we must respect that. Although it frustrates us that the program doesn’t shed any light on this, it is probably in the better interests of the team that they continue remaining so secretive about it.
However, if Rice and Cosby did commit criminal acts (at this point none of us know if they did or not) then it will eventually become public record, because breaking the law is an act against the state.
Well, that’s enough on that topic.
No Illinois alum/fan/media member wants to relive the dark season of shame that was Jamar Smith and 2007. I’ve seen Lars von Trier films that are more uplifting than the Jamar Smith/2007 Illini basketball story.
Moving on….
Malcolm Hill has established himself as the team’s new alpha dog in the absence of Rayvonte Rice. He’ll be the go-to guy next year. He scored a game-high 27 points, including the game winner with less than five seconds remaining, to get Illinois a hideously ugly home win over a really bad Penn State team.
He recorded his third 20-point outing of the season, and his 19th scoring effort in double figures. For his accomplishments, he was named Big Ten player of the week.
Hill is averaging 17.9 points per game over the last seven contests. In conference play he ranks fifth in the Big Ten in scoring at 16.9 points per game.
While Malcolm Hill got it done with the game winner on the offensive end, Jaylon Tate accomplished the defensive “game winning shot” on the other end. On the possession previous to Hill hitting the game-winning shot, Tate’s defensive efforts forced Penn State into committing an offensive foul and turning the ball over.
Tate was in the perfect position so that when PSU rotated the ball in the next motion of their half court set, the Nittany Lion being defended by Tate had nowhere to go and committed a critical foul.
Tate also has shown the ability to be the guy who “takes over a game without scoring.”
His 5:2 turnover to assist ratio versus Penn State wasn’t bad, but he had a phenomenal 9:0 at Minnesota. Tate is developing into a “true point guard” something Illini basketball hasn’t had, and they’ve truly needed, for a long time. Quentin Snider’s last minute de-commit really hurt them in this regard.
Tate could develop into the next Chester Frazier; who was actually better and more important than you think he was.
Jaylon Tate is also the best interview on the team. He gives the smartest soundbites.
Between these two players you have building blocks for 2016.
There’s two of next year’s starting five that are set. Darius Paul will take over for Nnanna Egwu up front. Maybe Leron Black continues to develop so that you can actually have a legitimate starting “front line” next year, instead of playing four guards. Then it’s a matter of who you want at that other guard spot: Kendrick Nunn or Tracy Abrams.
Whoever doesn’t start will slide into the role that Ahmad Starks occupies now; and therefore represents a pretty big upgrade.
See, there are some silver linings in this dramatically overcast Illini season. First and foremost are your sophomores: point guard Jaylon Tate and primary scoring option Malcolm Hill. Something to remember when you see a mathematical model indicating that Illinois has a 13% chance of getting a NCAA Tournament berth (and also the 115th best chance nationally, for a 68 team field)
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)