Illinois is about to find out a lot more about itself in Lubbock, and Brad Underwood knows exactly where one of the biggest headaches could come from.
The No. 3 Illini have rolled through their first two games of the 2026-27 season, but those wins only told part of the story.
Against Penn and another mid-major, Illinois was supposed to look the part. Tuesday night is different.
No. 16 Texas Tech is waiting, and the Red Raiders will have a familiar name near the top of their scouting report: former Illini guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn.
Underwood addressed the matchup in his pregame press conference and made it clear the staff knows what kind of threat Gibbs-Lawhorn brings.
“Dravyn, we obviously know, went and had a spectacular year at UNLV and is there [at Texas Tech] now,” Underwood said. “We know what he’s capable of as a scorer.”
That’s not coach-speak. Gibbs-Lawhorn backed it up last season at UNLV, where he led the Mountain West in scoring at 20.7 points per game.
The production came with real efficiency, too. He shot 41.4 percent from three-point range while hitting 2.9 threes per game, and he made 57.1 percent of his shots from inside the arc - an eye-popping number for a 6-foot-1 guard.
“He went and gained some confidence,” Underwood said. “In essence, he went down a level to UNLV, and that’s not to downplay them. But he was just turned loose.
“And Dravyn’s always had tremendous capabilities of scoring the basketball. We witnessed those things in practice a lot.
Very, very gifted athlete. He can facilitate.
He can be a playmaker as well.
“And he’s a guy that can put the ball in the basket. And, always throughout his life, has had a lot of success doing that. So we’ve got our hands full and we’ve got a great challenge there.”
The box score tells part of the story, but Gibbs-Lawhorn’s game is built on more than numbers. He has a live wire from deep, can knock down shots off the catch or off the bounce, and loves that secondary transition pull-up three. He’s comfortable pulling up for contested midrange jumpers, and he has an advanced floater package when he gets into the lane.
Once he gets downhill, his burst and change of pace let him reach the rim, where he can finish with either hand in a bunch of different ways. His athleticism helps him rise over defenders, too, which is part of what makes him such a difficult cover.
The bigger question is whether that scoring carries over against high-major competition. Gibbs-Lawhorn has shown he can catch fire in stretches at Illinois, and on any single possession he can get a bucket on just about anybody. The test now is whether he can keep creating quality looks against the kind of size, length and athleticism Illinois will bring Tuesday night.
That answer could go a long way toward deciding whether Texas Tech can stay in the fight for 40 minutes.
In Other News...
Illinois Just Exposed A Bigger Nebraska Problem Than One Loss
Nebraskas loss to Illinois did more than knock the Huskers back in the standings. It pushed the program into a full reset on offense, with the school parting ways with offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen after the defeat and opening the door to bigger questions about how the unit has been built and managed.
Matt Rhule now has to steady a team sitting at 5-4 and figure out where the next wins are coming from with the schedule tightening up. The issue is no longer just one bad performance against Illinois, but whether Nebraskas leadership can make the kind of adjustments needed to keep the season from slipping further away. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois Walks Into A Texas Tech Test That Could Get Uncomfortable
Texas Tech has opened the season with two wins and now gets a far bigger measuring stick, with No. 3 Illinois coming to town in a game that should tell both teams plenty about where they stand early. The Red Raiders are already dealing with frontcourt absences, which puts extra pressure on players like Bassala Bagayoko and Darrion Williams to help hold things together inside while the rest of the roster tries to match Illinois size and depth.
The more intriguing part may be on the perimeter, where Texas Techs Cruz Davis and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn will be asked to keep pace with Illinois guards Quentin Coleman and Stefan Vaaks. With key big men unavailable on both sides, this one could tilt toward whichever backcourt handles the moment better and avoids the kind of stretches that can quickly make a high-profile nonconference game feel uncomfortable. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois Suddenly Has A Playoff Path Fans Never Really Had
The College Football Playoff is headed for another major shift, and for programs like Illinois, the change could reshape what a realistic season looks like. Beginning in 2027, the field will expand from 12 to 24 teams, a move that opens the door wider for schools that have long been on the outside looking in when it comes to national title contention.
For Illinois, the timing matters because the programs recent progress has already started to make postseason conversations feel less theoretical. A larger bracket does not guarantee anything, of course, but it does give the Illini a clearer path to stay relevant deeper into the year and turn a strong season into something with real playoff stakes. [Read more 🡒]