Illinois 74, Ohio State 55 POSTGAME

[Future Walk-On]

Originally Posted by 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?

[AEX]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

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.

First, I'm sure that our comments on here are going to have no bearing on how well Egwu plays his next game.

Second, Egwu has had some bad games this season, sure, but his performance at Missouri showed the potential he has - he had 12pts and 9 boards against a very strong front line. To your larger point, it's tough to find another example where Egwu really put is mark on the game, but there are a few games like Hawaii where, between 4 pts, 4 blks, and 5 rebounds, you take what you can get form a Sophomore center still learning the ropes.

[NeeForThree]

GREAT WIN!! awesome to see that we can blowout, not just compete with, a top team in the country even when we arent unconscious from three!
Nnanna played great but i think the MVP of the game was definitely Tracy..he keeps setting the tone with his toughness and thats definitely what this team need.
Griffey's been killing us lately, if hes not scoring threes out there he needs to find other ways to contribute..his defending is absolutely horrendous..never seen a slower starter in the BIG this season.

Overall its great to see that this team has some balls unlike last year and can respond after a tough loss!! GET GROCE AN EXTENSION DAMN IT!!!

[thrillini]

Originally Posted by IlliniSpine

Didn't we beat #1 WF by a bigger margin at AH in 2004?

Won that game by 18. Most of the beat-down was in the 1st half, after which we led by 21.

[DaytonIllini]

Originally Posted by AEX

First, I'm sure that our comments on here are going to have no bearing on how well Egwu plays his next game.

I never thought they did.

Second, Egwu has had some bad games this season, sure, but his performance at Missouri showed the potential he has - he had 12pts and 9 boards against a very strong front line. To your larger point, it's tough to find another example where Egwu really put is mark on the game, but there are a few games like Hawaii where, between 4 pts, 4 blks, and 5 rebounds, you take what you can get form a Sophomore center still learning the ropes.

I am pretty sure the selective quoters are forgetting that I said after the Purdue game we had a 30% chance to win this game and a lower chance to win against Minnesota. Some people equate that with WANTING to lose. Until people can get past that concept, discussing the great parts and the flaws of a team is seldom worth undertaking.

He and Sam and Tyler were simply awful against Purdue, and quite frankly about 10 other games this year. I pointed that out and if they play like that in the B1G we will lose a lot of games. They played better today. That makes me happy.

If this game is a sign of what they can do in the paint, we win a lot of games. If Purdue is more indicative, we are not going to be good this year in the B1G. Winning today feels great. It moves the needle on season wins more positively.

I'll bet you Groce scorched those kids verbally a lot worse than I did though. They appear to have taken it to heart.

[illlllinois]

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.

cant forget about dj diving and throwing the ball off the osu players leg

[AZHOHoops]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

Wish I could have seen it. The score is incredible. It does make the Purdue game look like an aberration and winning one that I thought we'd lose does make up for a loss we absolutely should have won. In the quest for an NCAA bid this is huge as was Wednesday. Kudos for turning this around though. Very impressive. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to lose today. Without knowing How we won it sure is impressive.

The Purdue game is not an aberration. You either BRING IT n this years B1G or you lose.....Period

[Symmooth]

Originally Posted by AEX

I agree with the idea in general, but I don't think this was one of our five best games. I'm not at all unhappy with this game - I'm just trying to say that this was not one of our best games.

I think it was the most aggressive team effort I've seen from our guys in years, so by that measure, I'd call it our best game of the year.

If we can continue to play this way, we'll finish pretty high in the BT and get a nice seed in the dance.

[AZHOHoops]

Originally Posted by mdonsbach

Anyone else shocked the bench wasn't cleared in the last moments?

Yes... I was screaming for it.....LaTulip

[Botb9]

There's no other way to explain it: this was a beatdown. You don't get a wire-to-wire, double-digit win against a top 10 team and call it anything else. Illinois came out the more aggressive team and never let up. Even when OSU trimmed the lead to 8 and 14 points, respectively, there was never a sense that the momentum had swung to OSU's side. Each time, the guys responded with a critical shot, defensive stop, or hustle play. Tyler's diving for loose balls, setting screens. Egwu is hitting his open shots and getting rebounds. Abrams' speed was too much at times for the OSU defense. Joe was steady all game, as was Brandon. DJ finally broke out of his shooting slump.

When this team can go on all cylinders, it's special to watch.

As far as OSU is concerned, they haven't beaten the quality teams they've played (blatantly stolen from that SportingNews article linked earlier). I think it's more than that, though. I think the road is going to be awful on B1G teams this year. You've already seen it. IU's win over Iowa on the road could end up being huge for them.

Finally, I have to say, the crowd was awesome today, even considering the Krush wasn't there in force because of the holiday. It felt like old times again.

We get to do it all again shortly against Minny!

[Symmooth]

Originally Posted by illlllinois

cant forget about dj diving and throwing the ball off the osu players leg

Yeah, was that the best 9 point game by DJ ever or what?

[IlliniSteve]

It's really fun to watch Tracy Abrams play right now. Great confidence and he can break his man down big time. He outplayed Craft today. Hard to believe he's only a sophomore, he's out there playing like a senior.

[Dan]

Illinois dominates Ohio State at Assembly Hall -- from start to finish

But Illinois over Ohio State by a 74-55 margin in a game that was never close or even competitive still fits the description of a Saturday afternoon surprise considering OSU is ranked three spots ahead of Illinois in the Associated Press poll and 42 places ahead of Illinois at KenPom.com. So how did this happen? How did a team that just got worked at Purdue turn around and three days later work Ohio State from start to finish?

Answer: Not how you would've expected?

Illinois usually wins by taking a lot of 3-pointers and making a high percentage of them -- proof being that the Illini were 10-of-25 (40.0 percent) from beyond the arc in their November win over Butler and 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) from beyond the arc in their December win over Gonzaga. But Illinois was just 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) from beyond the arc in this January win over OSU, and its top three 3-point shooters (Joseph Bertrand, Tyler Griffey and Brandon Paul) combined to make just 2 of 12 3-point attempts.

And yet Illinois still won by 19 points.

Gary Parrish

[illini73]

Originally Posted by Barrelcortex

I like Henry as much as anyone, but he went in for a few minutes in the second half and seemed to play extremely sloppy. He had 2 turnovers in short succession including getting baited into a steal trying to back Craft into the post. So, Henry will see more minutes if he plays smarter and tightens up his game, perhaps you could call it 'court sense' or soemthing. Those turnovers are like 4 point swings when the other team scores. It totally made sense when Groce sat him after that.

Yes he made some mistakes, but how do you get comfortable on the court if you are not getting minutes even when the person in front of you is struggling. Maybe Henry's practice habits are bad, I don't know. Regardless of the stats the other poster threw out about Griffey over the last three games, he has struggled a lot and usually that means decreased minutes in favor of another. I think if Henry had a chance to play some significant minutes he would make a positive impact and maybe enough to steal more minutes from Griffey.

[AEX]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

I never thought they did.

Okay, maybe I misread your comment. You said:

If riding him after a ridiculously bad performance leads to him performing well maybe we should all ride him.

I took that "we" to mean posters, but maybe you meant the coaches. Not trying to nit-pick, just trying figure out where the miscommunication was.

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

I am pretty sure the selective quoters are forgetting . . .

I'll bet you Groce scorched those kids verbally a lot worse than I did though. They appear to have taken it to heart.

No doubt Groce got after all of them. You're certainly right there. I wasn't trying to be selective, (maybe that was meant for the larger constituency that's getting after you today and not my comment you had quoted); I was just responding to your comment that Egwu "had given us nothing all season," which I disagreed with, albeit in qualified fashion.

[AEX]

Originally Posted by Symmooth

I think it was the most aggressive team effort I've seen from our guys in years, so by that measure, I'd call it our best game of the year.

If we can continue to play this way, we'll finish pretty high in the BT and get a nice seed in the dance.

I think they were aggressive for stretches, especially out of the gate, but I thought they played better in the Gonzaga and Butler games. And by better I mean that they maintained their aggressiveness throughout and that they executed better. Same could be said for the USC game, possibly. While the execution wasn't as good for the Missouri game, I thought they played harder throughout that game then they did tonight, which is admittedly easier in a closer game.

[MTILLINOIS]

Great win. Any time you can kick OSU in the groin, you have to love it. We showed great toughness today. How many times did OSU go up for a shot on a drive, we took the ball from them. Go Illini!

[DaytonIllini]

Originally Posted by AEX

Okay, maybe I misread your comment. You said:

Sorry. You read it right. I was being sarcastic about being told I owed Egwu an apology for the Gumby performance we saw Wednesday.

I took that "we" to mean posters, but maybe you meant the coaches. Not trying to nit-pick, just trying figure out where the miscommunication was.

My bad.

No doubt Groce got after all of them. You're certainly right there. I wasn't trying to be selective, (maybe that was meant for the larger constituency that's getting after you today and not my comment you had quoted); I was just responding to your comment that Egwu "had given us nothing all season," which I disagreed with, albeit in qualified fashion.

Yes, it was meant for the broader conversation. I don't really know what to make of Egwu. He looks wooden in his play. His hands look bad. He cannot screen at all. Yet he started BB late in life and is reportedly a hard worker. I made that point after the Purdue game as well when talking about learning how to rebound (that sans Egwu these guys are 22 year olds that have played BB since they were 3 year round - or something to that effect).

If our perimeter defense can improve and our rebounding is like this we'll be ok.

The reason I gave us a 30% chance to win tonight and a 15% chance on Wed was that OSU lacks the lightning quick penetrators and the rabid front line rebounders that have given us fits this year. Minnesota has those qualities. If we can play and beat Minnesota that would really show me something about this team as it is a really tough match up for us. We'll keep our fingers crossed (though I know that won't really affect the players either )

[Chathamillini]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

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.

He also had 5 blocks at Purdue. He was not a total no show. I blame the Purdue loss on the total team lack of effort especially on the defensive end. Egwu did not play any worse than anyone else. Paul and Richardson had poor games also. Brighter note, everyone played and contributed well today!

[MTILLINOIS]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

Sorry. You read it right. I was being sarcastic about being told I owed Egwu an apology for the Gumby performance we saw Wednesday.





My bad.




Yes, it was meant for the broader conversation. I don't really know what to make of Egwu. He looks wooden in his play. His hands look bad. He cannot screen at all. Yet he started BB late in life and is reportedly a hard worker. I made that point after the Purdue game as well when talking about learning how to rebound (that sans Egwu these guys are 22 year olds that have played BB since they were 3 year round - or something to that effect).

If our perimeter defense can improve and our rebounding is like this we'll be ok.

The reason I gave us a 30% chance to win tonight and a 15% chance on Wed was that OSU lacks the lightning quick penetrators and the rabid front line rebounders that have given us fits this year. Minnesota has those qualities. If we can play and beat Minnesota that would really show me something about this team as it is a really tough match up for us. We'll keep our fingers crossed (though I know that won't really affect the players either )

Knit picking at its finest.

[AEX]

Really liked at the end of the press conference where Groce responded to a question about DJ by providing a litany of his attributes, including his rebounding, diving for loose balls, and always guarding the other teams best player (or best guard at least), and then saying, "I love that kid" and that he wouldn't trade him and will tell him to keep shooting. That's the kind of coach that young guys want to play for.

[frasergs]

Originally Posted by AEX

Really liked at the end of the press conference where Groce responded to a question about DJ by providing a litany of his attributes, including his rebounding, diving for loose balls, and always guarding the other teams best player (or best guard at least), and then saying, "I love that kid" and that he wouldn't trade him and will tell him to keep shooting. That's the kind of coach that young guys want to play for.

Gee, maybe Groce knows something that a few posters on this board don'

[Dan]

Rob McColley

[2005ILLINIWHITESOX]

Originally Posted by AZHOHoops

Yes... I was screaming for it.....LaTulip

same here, not sure exactly why the bench was not used at the end of the game...but overall great victory, hopefully we can keep this momentum for the game Wednesday against Minny

[WesterveltVictoryCigar]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

The reason I gave us a 30% chance to win tonight and a 15% chance on Wed was that OSU lacks the lightning quick penetrators and the rabid front line rebounders that have given us fits this year. Minnesota has those qualities. If we can play and beat Minnesota that would really show me something about this team as it is a really tough match up for us. We'll keep our fingers crossed (though I know that won't really affect the players either )

Minny definitely has the physical athletes on the front line with Mbakwe and Williams, but I wouldn't call any of their guards "lightning quick", they are more physical tough kids. Dre Hollins is fairly quick, but I'd be more worried about their strength. Odd thing is, they are really good on the offensive glass and not very good keeping the other team from doing the same. They turn the ball over quite a bit, so we'll need to keep up the aggressive D we had today.