It’s been a rough past few weeks for Illinois Basketball, ever since they defeated No. 2 Texas in the Jimmy V Classic. They lost three straight games, to Penn State, Missouri, and most recently, a 73-60 setback to Northwestern. At 9-5 overall and 0-3 in league play, this team has no momentum and now has to deal with the Skyy Clark news as well.
The former five-star prospect out of high school was originally a Kentucky commit before switching teams last offseason to join the Fighting Illini. After losing three ball handlers, Clark was set to have a large role in his freshman campaign this season. And that he has, starting 12 games at 25 mpg, averaging 7.0 ppg and 2.1 apg on 41% shooting from the field.
It’s been a season of ups and downs for the player, scoring a combined two points in the past two games and coming off the bench in the loss to Northwestern. In the end, Clark made the decision to step away from the team.
It’s too early to say and I don’t want to speculate but the feeling from outside of the situation is that this is a permanent separation between Clark and Illinois Basketball. And that’s a shame, as there was potential for him to be an All-Big Ten player down the road.
For the Illini, they’ll have to push forward without a starting point guard while still being winless in conference play. There’s a lot to ask about what this means for both the player and the team going forward. Here’s my reaction.
1. Jayden Epps now runs the show in the backcourt
From a statistical standpoint, the absence of Clark isn’t devastating. Although he plays “point guard”, Clark was actually third on the team in assists, behind Shannon (3.2 apg) and Coleman Hawkins (3.6 apg). That’s been part of the problem, as Illinois’ offense has been all over the place, especially when Shannon doesn’t bail them out with a 30-point game.
The player that will benefit from Clark’s departure is another freshman, Jayden Epps. The former top-100 recruit out of high school has been the team’s 6th Man off the bench before starting the last game versus Northwestern. He’s fourth on the team with 9.4 ppg, while making 35% of his three-point attempts.
Out of 14 games, Epps has scored in double figures in nine of them, including a season-high 21 points early on against Monmouth. He’s not necessarily a “true point” guard in that he’s more of a scorer than a pure passer but it should help Illinois be more consistent as an offense. And if Shannon remains the defacto “point” and Hawkins still facilitates anyways, it shouldn’t be a detriment to have Epps as the new starter.
Two other freshmen that should get more minutes are Sencire Harris and Ty Rodgers, who have shown flashes in limited minutes. They’re the type of glue guys that could have a bigger impact going forward. Ultimately, it’ll come down to the veterans to get this team back on track.
Something else to note, sharpshooter Luke Goode could return within a month after getting injured in an exhibition game. He actually started over Clark in that game so getting him and his shooting back would be huge.
2. Is this the start of Illinois Basketball falling apart?
Heading into the season, the Fighting Illini were a team viewed as having a high ceiling and a low floor. There was a ton of individual talent and athleticism on paper but questions as to how it would fit overall seem to be prevailing at the moment.
I’m not an Illinois hoops insider but between the tense postgame pressers including the players and Coach Brad Underwood, there are definitely some issues going on in the locker room. And rumors online are that it may not be the last of it.
After losing All-American center Kofi Cockburn, it was impressive for Illinois to be ranked in the preseason polls. And this team still has plenty to play for, as non-conference wins over Texas and UCLA will remain great for their resume. And technically, this team still doesn’t have a bad loss to this point, so the NCAA Tournament is very much within grasp.
The question now is whether or now Illinois can break through this adversity to start winning games. They’re at home against Wisconsin on Saturday and have Nebraska right after. If things don’t improve in the locker room or on the court, then the at-large hopes for them really will start to fade.
3. Where both sides go from here long-term
To be fully fair to Clark, we don’t want to state that he’s in the transfer portal and 100% gone from the team. But leaving after getting benched and reported locker room issues behind the scenes makes the timing point to that outcome.
If that’s the case, it’ll be the third ball-handler that transfers out from the program, joining Adam Miller and Andre Curbelo. And between losing Ayo Dosunmu, Trent Frazier, and Alfonso Plummer in the past couple of years, there’s been plenty of talent leaving the backcourt.
The good news is that Illinois has a point guard in the 2023 recruiting class in Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn, a top-100 prospect and former Purdue commit. The 6’1 playmaker is more pass-first than a scorer and that’s what the team needs going forward. The Illini also is going to go heavy in the transfer portal again, since they’ll be losing both Shannon and Matthew Mayer after the season.
As for Clark, if he’s truly gone, he’ll have plenty of interest from the other power conference schools. He’s from out west and could go to one of the Los Angeles schools. He also had a final list of six teams that included Louisville, Tennessee, Maryland, and Washington, all of whom could use another ball-handler.
It could end up as one of those teams, someone else that enters the picture, or even a return to Illinois Basketball. We’ll see what happens with Skyy Clark and the Illini going forward but just like this set of news was a surprise, so could be what occurs next.