Clock has started on 2024-25 Illinois basketball season

CHAMPAIGN — You’d be hard-pressed to say what happened the last month at Ubben Basketball Complex wasn’t practice.

Sure, the Illinois men’s basketball team put more emphasis on small group workouts since the new school year began in late August. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t opportunities to get the whole team together. The Illini’s only limitation was time.

A limitation that can now be avoided — as long as Brad Underwood and Co. stay inside the 20-hour window each week — by the start of official practices for the 2024-25 season. Most programs got going a week ago. Illinois started the clock Monday morning.

The Illini provided a glimpse, but just a glimpse, into that first practice on social media Monday afternoon.

There was Kasparas Jakucionis guarding Kylan Boswell. (The point guard situation would appear to be in more-than-capable hands).

There was Carey Booth skying for a rebound. (The Notre Dame transfer can make a legitimate case as the best athlete on the team. Also, rebounding could be a real strength of this team).

There was Will Riley attacking off the bounce, with Tre White caught in a ball screen from Booth. (Riley, of course, is Underwood’s first five-star recruit. White is one of five transfers and a versatile two-way option on the wing).

And there was bouncy 6-foot-1 guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn trying to finish at the rim over 6-9 freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. (Gibbs-Lawhorn, Underwood said on ‘Saturday Sports Talk’ on WDWS 1400-AM, has had arguably the best fall of any Illini. Johnson’s lengthy commitment after a standout high school career at St. Rita and Thornton made him a fan favorite before he even stepped on campus).

“We’ve done a great job with our team stuff of getting our base in,” Underwood said. “Now it’s go time. ... It’s been a really hard-working group. It’s been a group that we’ve made really great strides in terms of the physical part, the Adam Fletcher piece.

“I think we have a group that’s very intelligent. Their basketball IQ is high. This is a group that wants to learn. They want to be taught.”

The early returns from fall workouts are positive. Particularly in the areas Underwood addressed when building the roster. Positional size has paid off by letting the Illinois coach tinker with players in different positions, with 10 players checking in between 6-6 and 7-1. The offensive possibilities are endless. Creating the same defensively is now the goal.

“Everybody’s had good moments,” Underwood said. “We’ve set out to be pretty specific in terms of how we were recruiting and what we wanted to see. We’ve been encouraged by our shooting. I think we’ve got very good positional size. This is a group that has tons of ability in terms of we can do different things on the offensive end. You guys know me after seven years, I’m always going to fight defensively to develop that chemistry. We’ve got some work to do on that end. We’ve got to grow. We’ve got to continue to not make mistakes.”

Illinois will open the 2024-25 season in 35 days, hosting Eastern Illinois on Nov. 4 for a third straight season opener against the Panthers. The Illini’s Oct. 27 charity exhibition at Mississippi — the first of five games against an SEC opponent in the coming months — is even closer.

There’s plenty of work to be done in the interim. Leading the way will be the only two players that returned from last year’s Elite Eight team. Ty Rodgers and Gibbs-Lawhorn will have outsized roles in that regard, with 10 newcomers split evenly between freshmen and transfers.

“The biggest thing is going to come from leadership and understanding our way of doing things and understanding our culture,” Underwood said. “I’ve had multiple meetings with both of those guys understanding the standards we’ve set here. Those guys relaying that on is huge. They’re both great advocates for that, and I think have the respect of their teammates for how hard they work and how hard they compete. Their role is huge here.”