Jack Larson breaks down the player grades from the Illini's loss to Northwestern on Wednesday night in Evanston.

Terrence Shannon Jr.: C

Terrence Shannon finished with nine points, five rebounds, and seven assists. Northwestern mostly bottled him up when he tried to go to his strong left hand. He didn’t force the issue and had some nice assists.

However, Illinois needs more from Shannon.Coming into this season the expectations for him were to make a massive impact on offense, primarily as a slasher. Recently, he’s fallen short of that and Illinois has taken three losses in matchups that were projected wins.

Coleman Hawkins: C-

Coleman Hawkins finished with 10 points, five rebounds, and an assist. His negative plays are outweighing the positive things he does for the team right now.

Hawkins has a high ceiling, but a low floor. When he is dishing out assists and taking shots inside the three-point line he has the potential to rack up a triple double like he did against Syracuse.

In other games he will take rushed shots from three and rack up turnovers and fouls. Hawkins tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve so when things don’t go his way he will often go down into a spiral of negative plays.

Matthew Mayer: C+

Mayer led the team with 17 points on 5-11 shooting and grabbed seven boards. While he was solid shooting the ball, he had some mistakes in the second half that was a momentum killer. He had three quick fouls and two turnovers at the start of the second half.

Overall, it was a solid performance statistically.Mayer’s game just doesn’t seem to be in the floor right now, and that applies to just about everyone in the lineup.He took a rushed shot down the stretch in the first half that shifted the momentum to Northwestern.

Dain Dainja: B

Dain Dainja’s post presence was a help when he was on the court. He had nine points and nine rebounds. Dainja went 4-6 from the field, and was the lifeblood of the offense at the very start of the game when the Illini came out the door chucking up threes.

Dainja’s minutes will be even more crucial throughout the remainder of the season. The five-out offense isn’t working, but getting more looks for Dainja down low will have the offense running more efficiently. Along with that, his rebounding presence is huge. He tends to wear down when playing long stretches, though. Illinois needs more minutes from him.

Sencire Harris: F

While Harris was featured in the starting five for his second consecutive game, the energy he is known to bring to the court didn’t factor into the matchup with Northwestern, and if anything, only hurt him. He had two fouls in the first 24 seconds, and a technical foul right at the beginning of the second half.

The moment when he got his technical really seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Illinois. It killed the momentum especially after Matthew Mayer had just knocked down a three prior to the technical.

Harris played just 9 minutes do to foul trouble throughout the game.

Skyy Clark: D

Skyy Clark had two points, three rebounds, and two assists in 20 minutes of play. He shot 1-6, had two fouls, and two turnovers. He finished with the lowest +/- number at -16. It’s a problem when the primary ball handler isn’t a threat to score.

With Jayden Epps improving his defense some and one of the few players creating off the bounce, Clark will likely continue to come off the bench. The confidence that Clark had running the show has taken a nosedive. He seems to have crashed into the proverbial freshman wall.

Jayden Epps: B

Jayden Epps was Brad Underwood’s best player against Northwestern. He had 11 points on 5-12 shooting with two rebounds and an assist in 22 minutes.

Epps was pretty much the Illini’s only consistent option in the first half as he had nine points on 4-7 shooting. He also did a good job running penetrating the defense, running the offense, and getting the ball down low to Dainja.

We have seen a lot of high quality basketball out of Epps this year, and he has only very rarely made mistakes out of poor judgment. As of now, he sticks out as a clear candidate for a starting role.

RJ Melendez: D+

RJ Melendez played for 24 minutes and still looked tentative coming off of the shoulder injury.. He finished with two points, two rebounds, and an assist. His lone bucket came when he slashed to the rim. When he’s settling for corner threes, he’s less effective.

Since the game against Texas, Melendez has only scored 12 points over five games. It seems to be chipping away at his confidence as he only took three shots against Northwestern.

Ty Rodgers: INC

Ty Rodgers only played for two minutes in the second half and had one rebound. Rodgers brings energy and rebounding, but he’s not a scoring threat at this point. Still, it was unusual to see him mostly benched against the Cats.