Illinois coaches have tried to light a fire under their two centers, who combined to average just 6.2 rebounds and 10.2 points through the team’s first five Big Ten games, but it appears that only one has sparked so far. Junior Chris Gandy will start again Wednesday night, when Ohio State visits Champaign, in place of sophomore Jerry Gee.
Gandy started for Gee in Saturday night’s victory at Purdue, and he performed well, scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
Gandy’s biggest problem has been intermittent mental lapses, such as bobbling away an important pass in the waning moments of last week’s loss at Iowa. But coach Lou Henson knows that he needs at least a few quality minutes from the team’s tallest player–and apparently is using these starts as a carrot.
“I came down hard on myself for not catching that pass,” Gandy said Saturday. “It’s a learning process, I think.”
Gee has not responded as well to the stick. He scored six points and had two rebounds at Purdue, but picked up three fouls in just 14 minutes.
“We wanted to make both things happen,” Henson said of the two big men. “Gee needs to play a little better.”
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Garris’ comeback: Junior point guard Kiwane Garris probably will start against Ohio State. Garris returned from a shoulder injury to score the winning basket against Purdue.
Addition by subtraction? Matt Moran, the freshman forward who unexpectedly dropped out of Northwestern “for personal reasons” after averaging 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in the first 11 games, has enrolled at Illinois Valley College in Oglesby.
Coincidentally, since Moran left the team the Wildcats have played appreciably better. They lost to Penn State in overtime and to Ohio State on a basket with :02 remaining, then upset Wisconsin 62-52 Saturday.
“Matt leaving has nothing to do with the way we’re playing,” said Brian Chamberlain, the 6-foot-7-inch senior who has replaced him in the starting lineup and had eight points and 10 rebounds against Wisconsin. We all wish he’d have stayed, but we put that behind us and progressed from there. We’ve been practicing well and playing well.”