Illinois 74, Ohio State 55 POSTGAME

[SIUC]

Any recruits at the game?

[RockfordIllini]

W/R/T Egwu, a buddy of mine and I have noticed that he bears a striking resemblance to Tony Todd, the actor who played Candyman (he was also one of the lead bad guys in "The Rock").

Anyone else see it? Any chance of Candyman catching on as a nickname for Nanna?

[USAFILLINI]

Originally Posted by rdk573

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

Poor DJ, I'm sure someone has fired up the photoshop already on this picture.

[ILLSauce]

I loved every minute of it!!!

GO ILLINI!!!!!

[SummerofGeorge]

Last year, we won soley as a result of an insane game from Brandon Paul. We won this year because we were the better TEAM.

[USAFILLINI]

Originally Posted by AHSIllini32

There's a difference between thinking we played like crap and saying we won't win more than 4-6 conference games.

That said, let's not get too high based off this game. Never get too high and never get too low.

But damn this win felt great!!!

I would agree, i had to eat a little crow because I didnt think they would recover as well as they did (did anyone really call us dominating them like we did?). I'm never too harsh on those who drink too much kool aid or those who take the losses personal and tend see the approaching Armageddon. I come on here to read both sides, I get a kick out of the back and forth.

This win felt more than great, it felt awesome. Games like this are a whole lot better for my health haha

[Shenanigans]

After Purdue............



After tOSU.........



I'm refreshed...that was refreshing!

[PointGuardU01]

Big win and nice performance today! Much needed. Not sure what Ohio State was doing today, but that's their problem...life on the road in the B1G I guess. Big props to our Sophomore starters today. I thought Tracy and Nanna were outstanding. Let's put together 2 in a row! Beat Minny!

[mattcoldagelli]

Originally Posted by Groundhogday

So, is the sky not falling after all? Could have sworn I read that we were destined for the NIT.

Everybody should really take a spin back through the Purdue postgame thread. You know, for fun.

Originally Posted by Illiniwek_2

And just like that...we're back to being a bubble team.

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

Let's be clear.

Sam and Egwu are really bad.


We will not be ranked next week.
We will not be a bubble team.
We will win 4-6 games in the B1G.
We are...not good.

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

Losing to Purdue will start an avalanche of losing. There is a really good chance we are 1-7 or 2-6 in the B1G to start the season with home games against Wisconsin and IU before going on the road at Minnesota. No shock if we start 1-10 or 2-9.

Originally Posted by brosox

Make that 0-4, since I believe we play at Wisconsin after the Minnesota game.

Originally Posted by idoc13

This team is full of whiners and divas. They all want to see themselves on Sportscenter knocking down 3's but aren't willing to do the little things like box out or get on the floor for loose balls.

[mountdoraillini]

Groce looks like a pit bull at the end of his chain in that picture!

[DRS]

Originally Posted by Symmooth

Henry also had 2 TO's in his 11 minutes and got lost a few times out there.
He's coming along, though, I think and he's going to be great next season if not by the end of this one, IMO.

We get both of them playing well and we'll be a really good team in the dance.

Yup, I agree with both your points, he did get lost particularly on defensive rotations but he is coming along and obviously paying attention to what he should be doing out there. It will come, my guess is next year and senior years.

[AEX]

Originally Posted by Bruce Bruceton

Great win, much better effort from this team. Generally teams probably play about 5 games above their ability level, 5 below their ability level, and the rest of the games are a pretty accurate representation of how good a team is. This game was one of those games where we played 5 above our ability level but that being said I think this shows that every time this team steps on the court they have a legitimate chance to win the game.

I agree with the idea in general, but I don't think this was one of our five best games. There is a lot to be happy about from this game, especially the gang rebounding, Egwu's play, Abram's tenacity, etc. But to see Brandon and Tracy combine for 11 TO - which actually should be more as Brandon made a couple passes to players in bad situations or with a player all over them and who subsequently lost the ball - is a little concerning.

Second nit, I wasn't happy with how how we got to 25 points and then took our foot off the gas. We got our lead by breaking down the defense and either going strong to the whole or taking an open mid-range jumper. Once we got to 25 points, we put up 8 shots, 7 of which were long range 2's or 3 pointers, and missed all of them. We didn't score again until Bertrand's alley-oop dunk 4 minutes later. This team still wants to relax when we get a double digit lead. If Ohio State had been able to hit their shots today, this game would have been very close. We still need to learn to put teams away.

To the team's credit, I thought they did a great job of using the clock and hitting timely shots throughout the second half. And again, I'm not at all unhappy with this game - I'm just trying to say that this was not one of our best games.

[Dan]

illiniproductionshd

[Bluestreak]

The Hawaiian Illini are finally back.

[illinihawk16]

Originally Posted by SIUC

Any recruits at the game?

I'm pretty sure there were plenty of football recruits...I don't know about any bball recruits though.

[Cool Hand Luke]

Hell of a win. Did not expect to lose, but I certainly didn't expect to dominate a very good OSU team.

Simple observation that IMO sums up this team: The teams that just want to ugly-up the game (Purdue, Wisconsin) are going to give us fits. The teams that actually try to play basketball (Mizzou, Ohio State) are going to have to play extremely well to beat Illinois, especially at Assembly Hall. Maybe there's more to it than that, but that's the way I see it.

[WinOrElse]

Thought this was a good read:

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-bas...-no-8-buckeyes

[illini ri0t]

Originally Posted by mattcoldagelli

Everybody should really take a spin back through the Purdue postgame thread. You know, for fun.

Yeah, i hope daytonillini is as embarrassed for himself as i am to include him as a fellow fan.

[DaytonIllini]

Originally Posted by AHSIllini32

I said this in the game thread but I want to say it again here because of hard Dayton was riding him:

Dayton owes Egwu a sincere apology. Dude was a beast today!

Apologize for what? For being critical of a kid that had given us nothing all season? The kid was a total no show at Purdue and it cost us the game. If riding him after a ridiculously bad performance leads to him performing well maybe we should all ride him. I'll bet you Groce rode him hard Wednesday night and in practice this week. If apologizing to him will get him more than the 3 rebounds he got at Purdue, I'll gladly do so though.

Hopefully tonight is a sign of things to come for NE. That would bode well for the team. If he is the guy we saw on Wednesday, we are in a lot of trouble.

[Symmooth]

Originally Posted by IlliniRyan13

I think both TA and BP3 will need a full ice bath after that one... both went to the floor hard on a few plays.

BP really sky-ed for that unnecessary block/goal tend with 3 seconds left.
Sure hope he didn't hurt himself on that play.

Not sure why we didn't have the bench out there in the last minute.
Was Groce sending a message to Matta?

[CharlesLawrence]

Originally Posted by Groundhogday

So, is the sky not falling after all? Could have sworn I read that we were destined for the NIT.

I was one of those that said if they continue play like we did against Purdue we would be in the NIT. Purdue was a blimp.. they had MSU on the ropes for a while in the center until a few calls didn't go there way.. Maybe that Purdue lost was a good - great loss.. If such a thing exist ???

[DaytonIllini]

Originally Posted by Groundhogday

So, is the sky not falling after all? Could have sworn I read that we were destined for the NIT.

We are if we play like we did Wednesday and Saturday last week. If we play like this we are going to the NCAA's.

[WesterveltVictoryCigar]

Well so much for my prediction we couldn't cause many turnovers vs tOSU.

Great effort on D and the boards.

I'm sure we'll read soon how overrated Ohio St is, and to an extent I think that is true. They really need another option to step up to help Thomas on offense. But I'll take that top 10 win, going to be tough to get another one Wed.

[Dan]

Illinois Postgame Press Conference vs. Ohio State 1/5/13



IlliniProductionsHD

[Symmooth]

"Paul: Joe stole my three on lob dunk that probably would've gone in hoop without Bertrand."

Funny, it did look like it might have gone in. :laugh:

BP was just joking I'm sure, but it made me wonder if offensive goal tending is ever called on an alley-oop play.

Anyone know?