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Illini senior Aaron Jordan bleeds orange and blue

Champaign – Senior Aaron Jordan is trying not to think about it.

“Keep yourself busy,” he tells himself.

As the graduate student is keeping his mind on his studies, people around him, however, keep reminding him his final game at the State Farm Center has arrived.

“People started asking for pictures to put on videos and stuff, so I’m scrolling back through on my phone and I’m seeing the foreign trip. I’m seeing sophomore, junior year and how much I changed,” Jordan said. “Now I’m like ‘wow, I was supposed to be avoiding it.’”

Looking at these pictures, Jordan not only realizes how much his gameday shorts were wearing him four years ago, but how much he’s grown throughout his collegiate career and what he’s learned while on this journey.

“Just becoming smarter and knowing what I do on and off the court impacts everybody,” Jordan said. “It impacts my family, impacts people watching, impacts myself and my future. I mean, I knew that in high school, but I got a better understanding for it when I got college and it’s something I take pride in.”

Illinois Fighting Illini guard Aaron Jordan (23) pumps up the crowd during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 9, 2019, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois.
Illinois Fighting Illini guard Aaron Jordan (23) pumps up the crowd during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 9, 2019, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Since becoming “smarter”, Jordan became a leader, showing his team, comprised practically of underclassmen, how to handle the daily task of being an Illini.

Freshman guard Ayo Dosunmu said Jordan showed him how to mentally prepare for games and was a vocal leader for him. Oh, and he gave Dosunmu a ride when he needed one. Freshman center Giorgi Bezhanishvili also said Jordan’s leadership has aided him, along with Jordan showing him the importance of academics and how problems will take care of themselves when your academics are handled.

But there’s another part of Jordan leadership this season that’s stuck out to Bezhanishvili.

“He’s been vulnerable. To say “Oh, these young guys don’t know anything and I’m not going to let them say anything and I’m going to lead by myself,’ he didn’t do it,” Bezhanishvili said. “That’s a really powerful thing to have, especially as a basketball player and as a dominant basketball player to be vulnerable to other people.

“So, when like Trent (Frazier) says something, when Ayo says something, or me, he just listens and absorbs it. That’s a really powerful thing he has and I really appreciate it from him and not just in basketball, but in general, that will be a really great thing for him.”

Through coach and player turnover, through four years of dawning the orange and blue and through his time as a student-athlete, Jordan became a model for Illinois basketball in Underwood’s eyes.

“He exemplifies what I want our program to be about,” Underwood said. “Perseverance, toughness, work ethic; he’s a guy that bleeds blue and orange. The ‘I’ means more to him than maybe any single player on our team because he’s that invested. And anytime you can sweat equity into a program like he has, man you’re awfully proud.”

Underwood talks so highly of Jordan because of how quickly he bought into him and his system. Jordan immediately accepted his new role as a rebounder that occasionally was supposed to shoot the ball (only if he was shooting a corner three, according to Jordan).

But Jordan didn’t just settle for that, he worked countlessly to perfect his role. He’s gone from shooting less than 35 percent from three-point range his freshman and sophomore seasons to shooting a combined 43.4 percent from deep these last two seasons. This also opened up other facets of his offensive game such as his dribble-drive game, which Jordan has been more successful with this season. He’s bumped up his rebounding numbers to nearly five boards a game. Defensively, he’s taken leaps and bounds.

“He’s bought into everything. I’ll be honest, last year he was a guy we tried to hide defensively. We put him a lot on the other team’s poorest offensive player trying to hide him. This year, here’s a guy that’s drawn the other team’s best players,” Underwood said. “He’s rebounding at an unbelievable clip. He’s driving the basketball at a much higher rate. He’s become more than just a shooter. Everybody knows he’s a great shooter, but there’s a lot more to his game than that and we’ve been able to see that and experience that.”

For Jordan, it’s about taking pride in playing your role.

“Once you do that, you’re doing your role, but you’re going to have opportunities to do other things,” Jordan said. “Never look at it like it’s a bad thing. It might not be what you want but it’s what the team needs. And if you do it then you’re going to win.”

With such a young team, Jordan knew he was going to have to be a guy that paved the way for his underclassmen, just like former Illini players such as Malcolm Hill, Tracy Abrams and Jalen Tate did for him.

And because of what Jordan’s done on and off the court for the program these last four years, Underwood will join Jordan in dreading his departure. But he will always remember the first Illinois player he coached that wore the number 23.

“He’ll be a guy that I never forget because he’s been a part of the solution,” Underwood said. “He’s a guy that his leadership, his commitment, his dedication and his improvement is everything we want this thing to be about.

“Here’s a young man you know is going to make it in whatever he takes on in life. He’s one of my guys, man. I’m going to miss him and will be forever grateful.”


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