Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn does take a small measure of joy in absolutely putting it to the team his dad, Ben Gibbs, played for in college.
That almost had to be the case.
Gibbs-Lawhorn had a noteworthy Illinois debut when he scored 18 points in his first game in orange and blue last year in a win against Eastern Illinois. Monday night's 2024-25 season opener was no different. Better, in fact.
Gibbs-Lawhorn had 18 points by halftime and finished with a career-high of 21.
The 6-foot-1 sophomore guard knocked down 4 of 8 three-pointers.
Simply put, Gibbs-Lawhorn played a significant role in Illinois' 112-67 victory ... against Eastern Illinois.
"My dad went there; that's all I've got to say," Gibbs-Lawhorn said with a smirk.
Forgive EIU coach Marty Simmons if he was suffering through a brutal case of déjà vu Monday night at State Farm Center. Gibbs-Lawhorn didn't exactly have a place of prominence on the Panthers' scouting report a year ago.
This season? It didn't matter even if he did. Gibbs-Lawhorn knocked down a trio of three-pointers in the first half and got to the free-throw line four times after EIU could do nothing but foul on his repeated attacks on the rim.
"We tried a lot of different pick-and-roll coverages and weren't very good in any of them," Simmons said. "They kind of picked us apart. I think he gives that to their team. He did that down there at Ole Miss. He's a spark plug off the bench and brings a lot of scoring. Yeah, it brought back some flashbacks from last year. Yes it did."
Gibbs-Lawhorn's energy and effort was a connective thread between Illinois' charity-exhibition loss at No. 24 Mississippi and Monday night's win against EIU. That's his priority coming off the bench. He has the opportunity to survey what's happened in the game and change his approach accordingly.
"I just look at what needs help the most -- where we need the most energy," Gibbs-Lawhorn said. "If we're not crashing boards, I'll try to bring energy to the rebounding side of things. If it's the defensive side of things, I'll try to bring energy to the defensive side. It's really where I feel like we need to seek energy."
Gibbs-Lawhorn's improvements in the latter is what got him on the court more at the end of the 2023-24 season. A January slump as a freshman -- where the Lafayette, Ind., native struggled to defend without fouling -- resolved by the end of February and into March.
That Gibbs-Lawhorn could score was never in question (and still isn't). But his only way to playing time on an otherwise veteran team was to defend at the same level as his more experienced teammates.
"The problem we had with Dravyn was his hands," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "He was reaching. He was in foul trouble on a team that didn't foul very much. He was hurting our team because of his fouls. He was trying to be physical. He was almost trying too hard.
"Then something clicked a little bit later in the season. He started to believe in the weight room that he could chest people and not have to reach. He's continued that. He's very strong. He's anticipating better. He understands coverages better. ... He's confident, he's defending without fouling (and) he's impacting the game on that end just as much as he is on the offensive side."
How Gibbs-Lawhorn's game has evolved takes on an even higher level of importance now that junior guard/forward Ty Rodgers has opted to redshirt the 2024-25 season. That leaves Gibbs-Lawhorn as Illinois' only returning scholarship player available.
Rodgers is still with the team, still practicing, but he won't be on the court. That changes what's expected of Gibbs-Lawhorn.
"I would say the main thing I worked on was trying to become a leader no matter what role I have," he said of his offseason efforts. "Helping the guy stay level-minded -- not too high, not too low -- and keep the 'next game' mentality."