Illinois’ guards often direct their early passes in a basketball game to Roger Powell.
“Roger is a confidence player,” point guard Deron Williams said. “Sometimes he needs to get going. It can hurt him by not having touches. Usually when he makes that first shot, it’s a good sign.”
And when the senior doesn’t connect early, he may end up struggling from the field, as he did last week against Wisconsin and Michigan. In those games combined, he went 2-for-8 from the field and scored eight points.
Powell annoyed Illinois coach Bruce Weber last week with a few other blunders.
“We ran plays for him,” Weber said. “He ran them wrong.”
Weber said Monday that Powell might be pressing too hard in his final games. The top-ranked Illini (25-0, 11-0) have five regular-season games left before the Big Ten tournament, beginning with Penn State (7-16, 1-9) on Wednesday night in State College, Pa.
“Sometimes as a senior you want to do so well,” Weber said. “Now all of a sudden it overwhelms you.”
Such a scenario is a recipe for errors.
“Basketball is a game of reaction,” Weber said. “If you’re thinking and then reacting, you’re in trouble. You’re a second or two behind everybody else.”
Is Powell worried about impressing NBA scouts?
Weber said maybe, and Powell gave an emphatic no.
It’s a question worth asking because last spring Powell stunned Weber by declaring for the NBA draft without the coach’s blessing.
Powell eventually withdrew his name and later said he never intended to enter the draft but wanted to get name recognition among scouts to enhance his entry in 2005.
Powell, who is 6 feet 6 inches tall, has had stellar moments in college but isn’t considered a hot prospect for the NBA. He doesn’t have the size to succeed inside and must continue improving his ballhandling and passing to play on the wing.
After the communication flap with Weber over his pursuit of the draft, Powell mended the relationship.
But he doesn’t escape the continued scrutiny of his intentions.
In the preseason Powell said his NBA dreams would take a backseat to the team’s goal of winning a national championship, a sentiment he echoed Monday.
“I look at it like this: When I get to the [NBA] camps, I have to play and perform there,” Powell said. “That’s where it really matters.”
And if scouts aren’t impressed by his play this season?
“I don’t care,” he said.
Powell said his religious faith has given him a measure of humility on the basketball court.
He became a licensed minister in a Pentecostal church in his hometown of Joliet in the fall and preaches to church groups in Champaign-Urbana.
His experiences have been life altering, and they appear to translate on the court.
“If you’re not scoring but you’re playing defense and getting people open and your team is winning, you have to be happy with that,” he said. “If you’re mad, that would be kind of selfish.”
He also believes Weber’s theory that continued success for the team opens doors for a professional playing career for nearly every member of the team.
Weber said each starter is on the radar of NBA scouts.
“The better we do, the more exposure you get, and people watch, especially at the end when you’re on center stage,” Weber said.
Powell’s moments in the spotlight have been limited by foul trouble in a handful of Big Ten games. He had two fouls against Wisconsin in the game’s first few minutes.
As a result, “maybe I get more tentative on defense and I’m not as aggressive,” he said.
James Augustine’s emergence as a consistent threat inside also may explain Powell’s declining scoring output. Still, Weber wants Powell to show improvement in his passing. Among Illinois’ top eight players, Powell is the only one with no assists.
Weber has been critical of Powell’s shot selection, noting his tendency to attempt three-pointers. Powell reeled off threes in non-conference play but is 5 of 19 in the Big Ten.
“The one thing I’ve told him was, `Go get a rebound, get a putback. Go get a runout. Do something like that to get your juices going,'” Weber said. “He seems to want to take a three right away. Then he misses it and it’s, `Oh, God, coach is mad at me.’ Now he’s thinking instead of just going to do some little things.”
Powell acknowledged the need for improvement, but he’s not panicked about the season or his future. He doesn’t consider his current struggles a slump.
“If we’re losing and they really need me to score a lot, that’s a slump,” he said. “But if we’re winning, it doesn’t matter if I score.”
