Illini Basketball performances

[Vinegar Ben]

It's not just the losses but it's the performance or should I say lack of. The Alabama and Nebraska losses came because these guys couldn't make a free throw. That is one of the first things I learned in grade school. Practice shooting free throws, hell no they would rather practice high flying dunks. They lack emotion and are not ready to play from the start. It is something that has plagued Brad's teams ever since he came. They are not prepared. I see a downward spiral for this team against competition they should easily handle. Mizzou will kick their butts.

[Rickster]

respectfully disagree on some of those points...

FT - yeah, they clearly pooched FT against AL, but overall they are 18th in the nation at 78.2%. Keep that up and they'll be fine. What I would nitpick about is who is shooting them (or more importantly, who is NOT shooting enough of them). T. Ivisic should be drawing way more fouls, as should Mirkovic. Some games he draws a lot and others he doesn't.

I don't know what the answer is for the defensive woes. I understand that some players just don't have the skill sets needed to defend certain ways against certain types of players. That's a coaching issue, to make adjustments that put your team in the best position to succeed.

[marlu]

Mizzou will kick their butts.

This sure aged well.

[ChiefSTL]

Mizzou will kick their butts.

This sure aged well.

Yeah, there was a team that didn't look prepared, and it wasn't Illinois. For all the hand wringing that some people do over Underwood, I've never seen a team under him look like that Mizzou squad. I get that Gates has some big recruits coming in, but he had some good recruits on that team and they weren't prepared or very tough at all. Their defense was laughable and I have no idea what they were trying to do on offense.

[Rickster]

road wins...gotta love em and gotta have em...even "ugly" ones where you don't shoot well

good things from PSU game
- figured out how to generate points in a game where you only shoot 22% treys...drawing fouls against a team that can't defend your guards and making FTs (they're at 79.3% FT for the year, that'll do it)
- Mirkovic is showing signs of growth, figuring out more ways to impact the game, like drawing fouls and rebounding (he's 3rd on the team in FT attempts with 50 and shooting 82%) and even distributing the ball (3 assists)
- 13 offensive boards and I think 27 pts off ...that's another solid way to get ugly Ws when shots aren't falling

concerning things
- some of this would be easier if we had more offensive sets....with our lineup of bigs who can all shoot, we should try running some of that screen-the-screener stuff that UConn runs....with our trio of guards who can all get downhill and finish at the rim and our bigs who can shoot? ...man...that double screen action would be deadly effective, especially against any team that wants to pack the middle and double any down low possessions
- 10 turnovers are too much in a game like that (or any game really) ...we're now -21 in turnover margin on the year and avg exactly 10/game....that needs improvement
- playing Wagler the last 8 mins of the first half with 2 fouls and a 13 pt lead is just stupid...stupid, stupid, stupid. That would've been the perfect time to get Petro more game time. We still had matchup advantages all over the floor, so you put him in and say we don't need you to create shots, just manage the flow and get open looks for your wingers

it's going to super fun if we go into Purdue on the 24th at 18-3

[12xu]

Solid win at home vs Rutgers, a totally overmatched team.

Today's win at Iowa, great start and led all the way, but the Hawkeyes made a game of it late. Wagler with another tremendous game: 19 pts, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 of 6 clutch free throws. Stojakovic 17 pts, 5 rebounds. Boswell 17 pts, 3 assists, 3 steals. Mirkovic 12 rebounds, 5 assists.

Defense was tough for the most part, and they did not foul much at all. Only 11 PF called on the Illini, and Iowa only got to the line 6 times. IMO the flagrant hook and hold call after the refs took over 5 min to review it was ridiculous.

Next game is at Northwestern, not a great team but dangerous with their biggest rival coming to Evanston. Illinois then has Minnesota and Maryland at home - the Illini should be 7-1 in the conference when they travel to West Lafayette on 1/24.

[Rickster]

there were some wonky calls in the Iowa game. The hook and hold was I guess technically correct...??...but in context, just an awful call. Technically big Z got slapped in the face once but they called him for traveling instead. I would've liked to see a review of that one too. And the 2 wonkiest were was a traveling call and tie up against big Z when he grabbed defensive rebounds and somebody jumped on his back. Those were both obvious over the back fouls. He got credit for 2 turnovers but those should be wiped off the box score.

the bad
- even with those 2 bad turnover calls on big Z we still had 10 others. We were -4 in turnovers and now -25 overall on the year. That's gonna burn us eventually.
- we really need to commit to more offensive sets...as good as our 3 guards are, the high screen pick and pop can't be the only arrow in the quiver....if Wagler hadn't drilled those treys in the second half....??
- we should've shot 25-30 FTs that game...not sure why we quit getting into the lane to draw fouls
- Tomi needs to stop trying to back down into the low post, he's been completely ineffective and prone to turnovers against the double team in those...at least send a cutter through the lane so he can feed someone when the double comes

the good
- found a way to win a road game again, even with only 8 bench pts
- Wagler and Mirkovic are still getting better...what incredible finds those 2 are