Dec. 15—Will Riley was borderline unstoppable last month. The Illinois freshman dropped 31 points on Eastern Illinois in his debut and seemingly couldn’t miss from three-point range in the first couple weeks of the season. Riley averaged 17.2 points in the Illini’s first six games and knocked down 55 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.
The last four games, including Saturday’s 66-64 loss to No. 1 Tennessee, were a bit different. Riley is averaging eight points in that stretch and shooting just 1 of 17 (that’s just shy of 6 percent) from three-point range. He put up 10 points on 1 of 9 shooting against the Vols only because he knocked down 8 of 9 free throws.
“It’s what happens when you get off to a really hot start and start not playing 30-point win buy games,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said of the dip in Riley’s productivity and efficiency. “It’s really simple. I wish we didn’t have to play any of those buy games and let them all be real games like this one. That’s how you get better. You don’t build false realities. He’s at the top of the scouting report — he’s a great, great player — and I just want him to keep shooting open shots because he’s an elite shooter. Some of those deals are going to happen.”
