Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn shines in Illini debut

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CHAMPAIGN — Flat. Emotionless. Missing the attention to detail that had been so high in the run-up to the season.

Not exactly the way the Illini men's basketball team envisioned its Monday night season opener against Eastern Illinois playing out. Not on the heels of knocking off No. 1 Kansas in a charity exhibition game just more than a week earlier.

But that's the reality the Illini faced. EIU was winning the rebounding battle and playing with more energy in taking an early lead. Then, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn made his presence known. Six straight points and an abundance of energy from the 18-year-old freshman guard in the first half flipped the game. An EIU lead turned into an Illinois advantage that wasn't relinquished in what became an 80-52 rout in front of a State Farm Center crowd of 15,014.

"He had a great week of practice," Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. said. "You could kind of tell he was going to play good. He always has energy in practice and is always going hard."

That practice effort after the Kansas game — where Gibbs-Lawhorn played just two minutes — was the indicator Illinois coach Brad Underwood needed to know he might get the type of performance his freshman guard delivered for the Illini (1-0) against the Panthers (0-1).

Underwood didn't want Gibbs-Lawhorn to get dejected about how that final exhibition game played out. The Illini leaned on their veteran players to finish off the top-ranked Jayhawks.

Gibbs-Lawhorn watched from the bench.

Then the Lafayette, Ind., native spent a week showing why he should probably be on the court. Illinois always uses its freshmen on the scout team. Underwood has called Gibbs-Lawhorn "unguardable" in those scenarios.

"I'm going to be careful with Dravyn in terms of how much I'm going to compliment him because I don't want him to read it and actually think it's true," Underwood quipped. "He's a gifted scorer. He can really score it at all levels. ... We saw a little bit of his athleticism on the defense side. When he quits making silly mistakes on the defensive side, which all freshmen do, he's got a bright future."

Marty Simmons would agree. The EIU coach had a front row seat to what Gibbs-Lawhorn brings to the court. Energy and effort yielded 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting to go with three rebounds and three assists for the 6-foot-1, 185-pound freshman.

"That dude plays with tons of energy," Simmons said. "Whether he's shooting or not, his pace of play, he runs the floor extremely well. Defensively, he plays with a ton of energy. I think he adds a lot to their team."

The other label Underwood tagged Gibbs-Lawhorn with heading into his freshman season is "not bashful."

That was evident Monday night against EIU. Illinois had nothing going offensively until Gibbs-Lawhorn asserted himself. He didn't hesitate attacking the basket or pulling up for three-pointers.

"I feel like it's normal for every person to have little butterflies in their stomach before the game," Gibbs-Lawhorn said. "I just try to shut all that out. I tell myself every game that I've played against dudes at this level before. It's nothing different from playing in high school other than the physicality.

"Sometimes it's good coming off the bench because you can get a feel for the game and how people are playing."

The been-there, done-that approach is part of a a mindset Gibbs-Lawhorn said was instilled in him by his dad, Ben Gibbs, who played a single season at EIU, doing so in the 1996-97 season with the Panthers. Gibbs also coached his son in his formative basketball years with a style reminiscent of Underwood.

"Most people shy away from crazy coaches, but when I was being coached by my dad, he was the craziest coach of all time," Gibbs-Lawhorn said. "Even crazier than Coach Underwood. I love the tenacity (Underwood) coaches with. When he starts yelling at me, I love it. It just hypes me up even more. It keeps me motivated."

Motivated enough to put together a breakout performance in his official Illinois debut. The next step for Gibbs-Lawhorn is a continued focus on defense, limiting mistakes at that and being consistently dialed into the scouting report. Do that and he might make Underwood's job of piecing together a rotation even more difficult.

"It's just coming out and playing hard," Gibbs-Lawhorn said, "and providing for my team."