News & Notes - January 6th

[Dan]

Illinois 74, Ohio State 55: 'They responded at a high level'

Illinois' 6-foot-4 guard had two ice bags wrapped around his left leg and another on his right knee after his 11th-ranked Illini won for the second time this season against a Top 10 foe.

"I got banged a couple times today, hit the floor," Paul said, while assuring that he's fine.

Paul wasn't the only Illini sacrificing his body Saturday against the Buckeyes. Tyler Griffey jumped on the floor for a loose ball in front of his bench to call a timeout. D.J. Richardson (nine points, four rebounds, three steals) crashed into the scorer’s table to save a possession for Illinois (14-2, 1-1 Big Ten).

Marcus Jackson

Illini response stellar vs. Ohio State

Three days after a disheartening 68-61 loss at Purdue, Illinois bounced back strong on Saturday, leveling 8th-ranked Ohio State 74-55 at the Assembly Hall. Playing inspired basketball in front of the Hall’s first sellout crowd of the season, Illinois outshot, outrebounded and outfought the Buckeyes.

Responding to a crack-the-whip approach in practice on Thursday, in which Groce called out individual players for their lack of grit at Purdue and forced them through physically demanding “toughness” drills, Illinois played like it got the message.

The Illini outrebounded Purdue 24-13 in the second half and 40-30 for the game. Illinois shot 48.3 percent while holding the Buckeyes to 33.3 percent. And the 16 turnovers Illinois forced were six more than Ohio State is used to giving up.

Tupper

Live Blog - Ohio State

+ Brandon hadn’t worn the shoes from the 43 point game… until today.

+ Brandon and JoeBert made a joke at halftime about the ‘oop. Brandon said he threw a bad pass that would have gone in. He told Joe it was a bad pass… and that he took away his three.

+ Nnanna was focused and ready for today. Confident. Ready to take those shots. Feels his confidence strenghtening as the season goes along.

+ Coach Groce thinks the Big Ten is as deep as he’s ever seen it.

http://alioneye.com/2013/01/05/live-blog-ohio-state/

https://twitter.com/djrich32

Photo Gallery: Illinois vs Ohio State



http://www.illinihq.com/multimedia/p...ens-basketball

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Illin...6076?sk=photos

[DaytonIllini]

That pic of Groce and Matta deserves some kind of caption!

[Cool Hand Luke]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

That pic of Groce and Matta deserves some kind of caption!

All I can think of when seeing a pic like that is those two guys must be saying to each other, "Can you believe between the two of us they are paying us 4 million dollars . . . to coach college basketball! LOL!"

But it was a cool moment. Gotta be rewarding for Matta, and also kinda weird, to see Groce on the opposite bench.

There are a lot of guys in the B1G that really rub me the wrong way, but Matta has never been one of them.

[Dan]

Illinois 74, Ohio State 55: Notebook

"Our guys battled, they battled. Probably did a better job of blocking out, had a better disposition of when the shot went up," Groce said. "These guys will do about anything you ask them to do. Obviously we found the right button the last couple days to emphasize it and they embraced it. That's on me, I’ve got to figure that out."

Egwu led the way with eight boards. Paul had seven, Abrams had six and Bertrand have five rebounds.

"The last couple days, our assistants did a good job," Groce said. "They were charting it and tracking it. These guys will tell you it was on spotlight the last couple days in practice and I thought it helped."

Marcus Jackson

[DaytonIllini]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke

All I can think of when seeing a pic like that is those two guys must be saying to each other, "Can you believe between the two of us they are paying us 4 million dollars . . . to coach college basketball! LOL!"

But it was a cool moment. Gotta be rewarding for Matta, and also kinda weird, to see Groce on the opposite bench.

There are a lot of guys in the B1G that really rub me the wrong way, but Matta has never been one of them.

Your quote is almost exactly what I was thinking when I saw that picture. Good for them.

[lstewart53x3]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke

All I can think of when seeing a pic like that is those two guys must be saying to each other, "Can you believe between the two of us they are paying us 4 million dollars . . . to coach college basketball! LOL!"

But it was a cool moment. Gotta be rewarding for Matta, and also kinda weird, to see Groce on the opposite bench.

There are a lot of guys in the B1G that really rub me the wrong way, but Matta has never been one of them.

I agree. Matta is one of the best in the business, and I hope to see JG follow in his foot steps.

[Dan]

Other Ohio State Thoughts

Does this game kill “live by the three, die by the three”? Because we should have died (29.6%). So if we not only live, but we beat the #8 team by 19 while shooting 29.6% from deep, then… what? We’re capable of beating the Bulls when we’re hitting from three?

Yes, part of that spread was Ohio State. They were either uninspired or, possibly, in really big trouble in the Big Ten. Deshaun Thomas is a scorer. Aaron Craft can set up scorers. After that they have zero identity. When your offense is “Craft gets the ball to Thomas where he can possibly maybe score”, you’re in trouble. Lenzelle Smith is a nice player (but a complimentary player), Amir Williams isn’t ready, teams will play 6 feet off of Sam Thompson until he proves he has a jump shot, Shannon Scott is a year away… if those young guys don’t step forward soon, they might be in trouble.

But that only accounts for so much. We played solid defense, chased rebounds, got into the lane, etc etc. We basically won the game with everything not named “shoot well from long range”. Tyler Griffey had his roughest game this season (0-6 from three) and we won by 19. I don’t think anybody saw that coming.

http://alioneye.com/2013/01/06/other...tate-thoughts/

[BrooksTaylorFan]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

That pic of Groce and Matta deserves some kind of caption!

Looks like Groce is squeezing Matta's buckeyes. :laugh:

[Dan]

Leaving the office - The Gun is getting a workout from one of the best shooters in America. http://lockerz.com/s/275096828



http://twitter.com/Dustin_Ford

"If I wrote you a symphony, just to say how much you mean to me (what would you do?)" http://instagr.am/p/UKljgMypVI/



http://twitter.com/BP3

[AzIlliniFan]

So is he shooting or out buying snacks for the team?

[CaptainHindsight]

"You taste delicious"

JG is a Daywalker.

[Botb9]

Had a feeling Tyler would want to get some shots in from the sideline. Missed several of those short on Saturday.