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Good Morning, Illini Nation: End of the season stats, notes

scott richey, the news-gazette, champaign-urbana, ill.
·2 min read
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Mar. 20—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:

Inside Illini Basketball — Abruptness of the end

How do you put a bow on a roller coaster of a season? It was, by preseason expectations, a disappointment. Mostly because it ended too soon (again). So how about a few year-end stats and notes? — Illinois used six different starting lineups in the 2022-23 season. Of note:

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* The most successful by winning percentage was the group of Jayden Epps, Skyy Clark, Coleman Hawkins, Matthew Mayer and Terrence Shannon Jr. in a lineup that happened just once.

* The most successful by total wins was the lineup from early in the season that got to play against more low major teams with Skyy Clark, Terrence Shannon Jr., RJ Melendez, Matthew Mayer and Coleman Hawkins.

* The least successful was the starting lineup Illinois trotted out to end the season with Terrence Shannon Jr., RJ Melendez, Matthew Mayer, Coleman Hawkins and Dain Daina. That group went 1-3. — Shannon had the highest usage rate (26.9 percent), the highest season box plus/minus (7.5 in a tie with Matthew Mayer) and the most win shares (4.8) this season. — Shannon was also Illinois' best offensive player statistically with an offensive rating of 115.6. That's an estimate of points produced per 100 possessions. Luke Goode's was higher at 132.9, but he played 139 minutes in 10 games compared to Shannon's 996 minutes in 30 games. — Dainja had the team's best defensive rating at 93.1. That's an estimate of a points allowed per 100 possessions. (So lower is better). Matthew Mayer at 95.0 and Sencire Harris at 95.6 were next on the list. — Hawkins wound up overtaking Shannon, 81-80, for the team turnover lead in the final game of the season. Six total turnovers against Arkansas, including five in the second half, did the trick. Hawkins' turnover percentage for the season stood at 20.6 percent. As in he'd turn the ball over roughly 20 times every 100 possessions. — From a team standpoint, Illinois currently stits 52nd in the nation in three-point attempts per game and 340th in three-point percentage. The Illini's 30.8 percent three-point shooting this season wasn't the worst in program history, but it was close. — The Illini also rank 310th nationally in free throw percentage at 67.9 percent making their offensive woes even more pronounced.