Dain Dainja’s Homecoming Saves Illinois Basketball

Dain Dainja’s Homecoming Saves Illinois Basketball

Not going to lie to anyone, Illinois Basketball looked like it was going to have a quick March. Ever since winning the Big Ten Tournament in 2021, Illinois has not won a single Big Ten tournament game. In fact, since that magical win on March 14th, 2021 vs Ohio State, Illinois Basketball has won two postseason games. One vs the 16th seed, Drexel, and another in a nail-biting win vs Chattanooga. They looked dead in the water again, they were down 10 points with about 10 minutes to go and Brad Underwood had fully erupted.

We’ve seen this movie before. The Illini come out flat in a game vs March, Underwood explodes and pleads for effort. Illinois Basketball was saved by some winning plays from their stars down the stretch. However, that win is not possible without the incredible homecoming performance from Dain Dainja.

Dain Dainja: 18 points and 8 rebounds

Dain Dainja deserves a ton of credit. As a starter last year, Dain projected to be a key piece for this Illinois Basketball team. However, the game has really favored a perimeter-oriented and versatile group of frontcourt players, such as Coleman Hawkins. Dainja fell out of favor during the middle of the season, however, never pouted and never dropped his head. He has stayed ready and worked hard to improve his game. Dain is not perfect as he has some difficulty on defense and with some offensive limitations, however, he saved Illinois Basketball from starting another quick March.

Dainja will be huge in the next game today vs Nebraska. Nebraska plays a very perimeter-oriented, small ball around Rienk Mast. Dainja will have his opportunity to have the same impact if it is needed and boy would we love that for the Minnesota native.

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