Pregame: Illinois at Northwestern, Sunday, February 17th, 6:30pm CT, BTN

[SycIllini]

NU scares the hell out of me especially in Evanston. They always seem to play someone well when you think they are down and out. Maybe it was OSU tonight instead of us but, I hope our guys are on a mission for this game.

I hope we get the ball inside early and often with guard/wing penetration or feeding Egwu/McClauren/Griffey. I don't really want to start out in a 3 pt shooting contest with them. Let those come later to bury them.

[Agent Orange03]

I will be in the house on Sunday! Wear Orange!

ILL-INI!

Zeus

[IlliniRon]

Used to live 6 blocks from Welsh Ryan arena and walked to the games. Most conference teams have so many fans in Chicago area they outnumbered the NU fans, even though NU fans have the better seats as season ticket holders. Tough place for Wildcats to play home games, that's for sure.

My favorite game was during the Kruger or Self era, when we almost held Northwestern scoreless for the entire first half. They must have had 6 or 8 points at halftime and it was awesome, nearly a shutout at half time.

I feel good about this one as well.

Illini 64
NU 51

[alexander58]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke

Thanks Kramer.

If we can't beat them this time...

I watched some of their game tonight vs. Ohio State. They arent easy to guard. You really need a little luck ( they need to miss open shots) We ll see how much the Illini learned from the 1st meeting.

[solbur2]

I think getting ahead early is huge in this game. If we can take an early commanding lead it will speed NW up and they are not designed to play that way. Last time we played them they had total control of the game and we played them at their pace and just couldn't come back. Sunday we come out hot and cruise to victory!

67
Nw- 55

[Kramer116]

Originally Posted by Illini2016

I am so jealous. It is truly the greatest city in the world. Have fun and rep the Illini well for me in my home town.

In terms of your transportation, you can take the red line north and transfer to the purple, but that would take up to an hour, and that is a long time for a short distance. Union Paciffic North train (Metra) takes you to Evanston, and that will be MUCH quicker.

According to the website below, you could also take the 147 bus. I would personally recommend the Metra or the El, as those are the methods I always use when in the city, but I thought I would provide as many options as possible.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic..._Illinois.html

In terms of at NU, I looked it up and the top names in the area are The Keg of Evanston, The Mark II Lounge, or The Deuce (although I couldn't find much on this).

Hahahaha wow those bars named bring up some memories (extremely blurred / fuzzy)

The Keg in Evanston is now closed. That used to be the most ridiculous bar in terms of letting underage people in. Seriously, we used to go there when we were like 16 in HS. It was a joke.

The Mark II Lounge and The Deuce are the same bar. Hahah, again a total hole in the wall bar in Rogers Park off Western. It is open until 4-5 AM or whatever so that is the only reason to go there if you are in that area. The bar is carpeted, very old school crap hole. There is a pretty ridiculous pizza place / bar next to it called Candelite. Some of the better super thin crust pizza I have had in Chicago but it is not very close to Northwestern (train + cab).

I went to the Illinois game last year at Northwestern. It was on like a Tuesday or Thursday at like 8. So after we got off work and jumped on the Metra from the Clybourn stop, we got there like an hour or hour and half before game time.

We went to a bar called Bluestone. It is right down the street from the Central St. Metra stop. The purple line el stop is on the complete other side of the arena and is a far walk from Bluestone. It was pretty packed though, but had decent beer specials. The burger I got was really good too and had good fries.

There is really basically zero options close by. We were able to walk from Bluestone to Welsh-Ryan Arena no problem. It took maybe 5-10 minutes tops.

[Kramer116]

[IlliniEX2011]

Originally Posted by SycIllini

NU scares the hell out of me especially in Evanston. They always seem to play someone well when you think they are down and out. Maybe it was OSU tonight instead of us but, I hope our guys are on a mission for this game.

I hope we get the ball inside early and often with guard/wing penetration or feeding Egwu/McClauren/Griffey. I don't really want to start out in a 3 pt shooting contest with them. Let those come later to bury them.

I think if we push the pace like we did against Purdue we will wear them down. They've had a ton of injuries so if you make it a track meet they will tire quickly.

[RealWorld52]

Are tickets easy to score outside of Welsh Ryan?

[AK Illini]

Originally Posted by RealWorld52

Are tickets easy to score outside of Welsh Ryan?

that's my plan

[illini101]

Thanks for all the helpful directions. Not my first time in Chicago by far but it is my first time in Evanston. Got tickets delivered last evening! Go ILLINI!

[joekam]

Anyone know if Buffalo Joe's in Evanston shows NU games with sound? I've been there a few times, but never for a game. Not feeling the ticket prices for the nose bleed seats, so Plan B is to get some famous BJ's wings and catch the game on tv there.

[IlliniRunIn07]

Originally Posted by joekam

Anyone know if Buffalo Joe's in Evanston shows NU games with sound? I've been there a few times, but never for a game. Not feeling the ticket prices for the nose bleed seats, so Plan B is to get some famous BJ's wings and catch the game on tv there.

NU has nosebleeds?

[RockyMtnIllini81]

Originally Posted by IlliniEX2011

I think if we push the pace like we did against Purdue we will wear them down. They've had a ton of injuries so if you make it a track meet they will tire quickly.

I agree. They are playing with 7 scholarship players. One thing I like about Groce is that he seems to tailor his game plan to take advantage of an opponent's weaknesses. I also hope the scare that NU put in OSU last night will remind the Illini not to take them lightly.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/0...-state-before/

[Dan]

Sean Harrington: Scouting Northwestern

Hit the offensive boards hard. Northwestern is not a good rebounding team. The loss of Jared Swopshire hurts them even more in that department. Also, throw in the fact that the Wildcats do not push the ball in transition, makes this the perfect game to send 3 or 4 to the glass to get second chance points.

The Wildcats are not very good at post defense and don’t have much depth there. Attack them inside, make good post moves.

Northwestern will switch all five at times on defense. This will lead to all kinds of mismatches. It will be important to continue to run your offense and the mismatch will get exploited. Don’t just focus on the mismatch, continue to run your offense.

http://www.illinihq.com/sports/illin...thwestern.html

[lstewart53x3]

Watching Northwestern play last night, it looked like they deliberately tried to avoid fast breaks, so I think going hard after offensive rebounds is a great game plan in this one.

[brosox]

Originally Posted by RockyMtnIllini81

I agree. They are playing with 7 scholarship players. One thing I like about Groce is that he seems to tailor his game plan to take advantage of an opponent's weaknesses. I also hope the scare that NU put in OSU last night will remind the Illini not to take them lightly.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/0...-state-before/

Take them lightly? If our players don't show up to play hard after the whipping NU gave us in Champaign, then we don't deserve to make the tournament. As one poster said, come out hard at the beginning and get a quick 8 to 10 point lead so we make NU play at our pace, rather than theirs.

[BexleyIllini]

NW played a very good game against OSU last night in Columbus. Take them lightly, and we will lose. I don't think Groce will let this happen. The Illini will grind out a win 63-55.

[Kramer116]

Originally Posted by joekam

Anyone know if Buffalo Joe's in Evanston shows NU games with sound? I've been there a few times, but never for a game. Not feeling the ticket prices for the nose bleed seats, so Plan B is to get some famous BJ's wings and catch the game on tv there.

Good question, regardless Buff Joe's is the shiznit. It will be worth it just to go for the wings.

[RockyMtnIllini81]

Originally Posted by brosox

Take them lightly? If our players don't show up to play hard after the whipping NU gave us in Champaign, then we don't deserve to make the tournament. As one poster said, come out hard at the beginning and get a quick 8 to 10 point lead so we make NU play at our pace, rather than theirs.

No question the Illini should be headed into Evanston with something to prove. Before last night they might have thought that with Swopshire out, that would be easy to do. It won't be. And yes, we can't let them play the slow down game that suits their short bench and limited number of skill players.

[Botb9]

I just don't want it to come down to needing a block in the final seconds to win.

[lstewart53x3]

Originally Posted by Botb9

I just don't want it to come down to needing a block in the final seconds to win.

Especially since we don't have Meyers Leonard this year

[IlliniFan95]

ILL to Win 74-57 Myke Henry w 17 points and 8 Boards

[Kramer116]

Revenge Tour 2013

[BlindLoyalty]

Originally Posted by IlliniRon

My favorite game was during the Kruger or Self era, when we almost held Northwestern scoreless for the entire first half. They must have had 6 or 8 points at halftime and it was awesome, nearly a shutout at half time.

I was also at that game Ron. Great game. Feb. 19, 2000. We started the game on a 23-0 run! Northwestern didn't score until 4:47 remained in the first half. It was 30-6 at halftime.