Illinois' Dain Dainja Making Impressive Strides After Strong Game Vs. Valparaiso

It appears Illinois junior Dain Dainja is finally getting comfortable in his new surroundings. 

Dainja, who transferred from Baylor in 2022, scored a season-high 16 points on 8 of 10 shooting in Friday's win against Valparaiso. He also had seven rebounds in his first start of the season. 

"It felt good," Dainja said. "I got myself going just by starting off doing the little things, rebounding and setting up other guys . Just taking my time down there."

Dainja has reached double-figure scoring in two of the last three games. It was quite the bounce back game after going scoreless in three minutes in the loss to Marquette. 

Despite the limited playing time, Dainja stayed confident. He said the key was approaching every game like he is a rotation player. It's likely he won't have any more games with fewer than 10 minutes. 

"Just staying in my routine, handling business off the court," Dainja said. "Making sure my body is right and make sure I'm ready to go, practicing good habits and it just transferred over." 

Dainja is averaging 8.5 points and five rebounds this season and could become one of the Illini's most key contributors. His size and scoring should take some of the load off leading scorer Terrence Shannon. That could bode well once Illinois begins conference play in the Big Ten. 

The Illini are 3-1 entering Sunday's game against Southern University at State Farm Center. 

Shandel Richardson is the publisher for Illini Now. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com.