OMAHA, NE (WAND) -- The Illinois men's basketball team is marching on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in large part to their bench who dropped 37 points against Morehead State.
They said it shows how deep the bench is and how everyone can step up when their number is called.
"It helps my confidence a lot," Dra Gibbs-Longhorn said. "Especially after not playing as much throughout the whole season I feel like it added that touch of yeah you know you're suppose to be here, you know you can do all the same thing everyone else is doing. It's just a matter of staying ready and know when your time is and I feel like I've done that."
"Our bench has been huge, they've been huge all season," Marcus Domask said. "That's one of the best things about our team is we're a really deep team that if you take away one or two guys we got so many guys that can step up. So when our bench continues to produce like they have been our team is just way better."
Veteran Coleman Hawkins said in his freshman year he would not of been able to produce like they are on the big stage.
"I told the guys yesterday my freshman year if they threw me in a game I probably would have air balled those two shots Dra took but it goes to show how confident he is," Hawkins said. "How confident Dain is playing, Luke stepped up huge yesterday too so there is a level of confidence there and I know everyone wants to win. When people are stepping up like that it makes our team really special."
Illinois is now gearing up for a second round match against Duquesne Saturday night tip-off is scheduled for 7:40 p.m.
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