Illinois 64, Penn State 59 POSTGAME

[Jester87]

Originally Posted by KSmooth

Not gonna be much from this one on the season highlight reel: Egwu's dunk, Paul's drive, a generic Richardson three. Moving on...

Heck, lets throw in Sam's sweet dunk that was waved off on the bogus foul call on MH.

[KnoxIllini2]

I'm getting concerned the way TG has looked the passed couple games. He has struggled inside and out. If we expect to go 2-2 or better in our next 4, TG needs to re-find the stroke.

[Dan fan 86]

Originally Posted by carmelillini

You ever managed a walker in snow?

I suppose they are blind too. Hearing aids froze also.

[illinois_hustle]

Whether or not there was weather, the Illini weathered the storm and came away with a big win.

Winning ugly has that word "winning" in it, so I'll take it AND a celebratory cocktail, thank you very much.

[IlliniB10]

Well, there goes our BPI ranking. :rolleyes:

A win is a win. I don't expect this to carry over to the Michigan game though. I wouldn't be surprised if we come out and play some of our best ball on sunday and give them a scare.

[HsvIllini]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

Don't forget we added Sam. I have been hard on him and he isn't particularly good but we don't beat IU or PSU without him.

Don't think it's necessarily that he isn't particularly good, but is more of a supporting actor doing the little things helping the rest

[JSpence]

Originally Posted by KnoxIllini2

I'm getting concerned the way TG has looked the passed couple games. He has struggled inside and out. If we expect to go 2-2 or better in our next 4, TG needs to re-find the stroke.

He picked a good couple of games to be off target. If he brings it next game, all is forgiven - we'll most likely need him to win.

[illini ri0t]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

They were pretty much designed for the snow I thought.

Maybe Hoth snow, this is midwest snow with a hint of ice drizzle.

[wpr]

all those fouls sure made it hard to get any kind of continuity.

[Kirk]

I save a lot of games on my tivo for future re-watching (Gonzaga, Ohio State, Indiana) This game I deleted right away!

Thrilled about winning 5 in a row and really liked the love we got on the post game show.

[AHSIllini32]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

When we were 2-7 it was madness to suggest that we'd be 7-7. I'll take it anyway we can get it.

I hate to say I told you so in terms of conference wins butttt....

Ugly game, horrendous weather, sparce crowd because of it, lazy play but still got a win. Put it behind us and to get SCUM

[IlliNYC]

Originally Posted by joekam

Haven't been in the game thread, but surprised BP3 isn't being given credit. Majority of us are always ready to point out the bad, myself included, but he kept at it tonight and had key plays.

Started out slow with couple bad shots and TOs, but stuck with it on def and had that nice steal and dive for the ball that led to DJ's 3 point play. Scored clutch buckets to keep Illini ahead late in the game and had 13 points in second half alone.

Agreed, on the other hand 3-8 from the line.

[Sybok]

I thought Henry played well. I'm surprised he wasn't on the floor more. Strange game. SMH at the refs. Way too many ticky tack calls. That impacted the flow of the game for both teams.

[Rob07]

There must have been 10 possessions in a row that ended in a foul and free throws. Certainly the most I've ever seen.

Ugly win, but relieved to get away with it. Beat Michigan.

[Magoo2]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

They were pretty much designed for the snow I thought.

From a fellow Star Wars goober....VERY well played sir!

Snow wouldn't bother those walkers, and in fact, I think they would KRUSH-a-lot.

[combes]

This game didn't surprise me. Natural let down. Due for a bad game. Got an ugly win. Time to refocus and finish strong.

[sapan1030]

Originally Posted by IlliNYC

Agreed, on the other hand 3-8 from the line.

Yeah he missed some free throws, but at least he was being aggressive and getting to the line. Hopefully this game breaks him out of his mini slump. He played a great all around game tonight. And he had NO turnovers, according to the espn box score

[Symmooth]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

When we were 2-7 it was madness to suggest that we'd be 7-7. I'll take it anyway we can get it.

Exactly. How many teams out there can play 5 great games in a row?

FF teams, that's who. Remarkable turnaround.

[Dan]

RT @IlliniHoops 5 in a row! #Illini #winning http://pic.twitter.com/HcE124eapy

[Illini70math]

9 Observations from the PSU Game:

1. We played Penn State. It was an ugly game. Oh, I repeat myself. There are just few teams in college basketball that can uglify a game like the Nittany Lions. But we won!

2. PSU was able to keep the game reasonably close by playing good defense and hitting a run of threes at the end of the game. Particularly at the start of the game, their defense was really limiting our offense. They were very well prepared to defend against our offense, and we looked pretty bad out of the gate.

3. Ultimately it was their fouling that did them in, but our weak free throw shooting kept us from pulling away. We did make enough free throws at the end to keep them at bay in spite of their rain of late threes.

4. Nobody played brilliantly for the Illini, but lots of guys made solid contributions. DJ has become Mr. Reliable, and this game was no different. His 8 of 9 from the free throw line on his way to 18 points was crucial in the win.

5. Brandon was effective again. He didn't shoot well at all from the free throw line, but he did a lot of good things including getting two charging calls against PSU that were key turnovers. He managed to grind out 16 points, 13 in the second half, while playing a good overall game. That's the difference between winning and losing. His defense was excellent again.

6. Tyler was very quiet today, but Myke Henry did a nice job in his 10 minutes. I am not sure why he didn't play more, but I presume it was defensive issues. Joe B was fairly quiet as well, but we needed every one of his six points. Tracy also played a solid if not spectacular game.

7. Sam and Nnanna struggled against the PSU big guy, and we were outrebounded 34 to 25 by PSU, which was not good. Sam did contribute some nice offensive plays at key times, and Nnanna was going for the Play of the Day on his breakaway. At first I thought is was in slo-mo, but then they replayed it and it was real-time!

8. One scary thought is that PSU stands to get Frazier back next season. With their current guards plus Frazier, they will be a serious team, particularly if their big guy continues to play as well as he has for the last three games.

9. We won our 20th game of the season, and we very likely locked up an NCAA tourney berth with that win. I don't want to test that theory, so I want to see at least one more win (Nebraska will do). Well, we are back at .500! All those who "knew" we would be there now after the Wisconsin are...liars!!! Congratulations to the players and the coaches on what is already a successful season. Now let's make it a special season!

[illinibri92]

We were lucky tonite. I am disappointed in Griff. For us to play as a team, he has to play well. He was really bad tonite. Unlike his last 3-4 games. As griff goes, so does our team play.

[Illinigirl]

Enjoying that we got the win, our 20th, plus back to .500 in conference play. Is that 3 straight games w/18 pts for DJ? Talk about consistency. So happy for these seniors.

[Dan]

[plooger]

Originally Posted by Warriors1994

its good to get a win. but i think the word for tonight is disappointing. We were hoping to hit them in the jaw and they really didnt do it

Similar feeling.

Playing this way, we're 1-3 at best the rest of the way. This level of play will result in blowouts, on the sadface side, on the road at UM, Iowa, OSU.

Kudos for fighting back to .500, but they still seem a faint echo of the team that started the year. Seems like DJ is the only guy with any consistent offense, and free throws were just abysmal, tonight.

[OrchardDowns]

Originally Posted by KnoxIllini2

I'm getting concerned the way TG has looked the passed couple games. He has struggled inside and out. If we expect to go 2-2 or better in our next 4, TG needs to re-find the stroke.

Was thinking the EXACT same thing. Seems to have disappeared yet again. We NEED him back to have a decent shot at winning one or two of those three road games!!!