Michigan State 76, Illinois 56 POSTGAME

#26      

Deleted member 4960

D
Guest
We don’t normally shoot this bad from 3. We have also had 3 losses on the road to teams in the top 25. We have been close in some and should have not had lost to others. I don’t know what to think if it’s Brad or the players. Every team we play we seem to be competitive or dominate a half and then in our losses completely come unwound in the other. Shooting and lack of feeding our bigs seems to be a problem. Also our guards getting beat off the dribble forcing others to help out seems to hurt us a ton. Kofi lack of basketball experience is telling. It’s hurting us against these upper tier opponents. Ayo, Feliz and Trent can’t seem to figure out a rhythm. Frustrating. But this is a loss I already had down let’s play well next game!
 
#27      
We don’t normally shoot this bad from 3. We have also had 3 losses on the road to teams in the top 25. We have been close in some and should have not had lost to others. I don’t know what to think if it’s Brad or the players. Every team we play we seem to be competitive or dominate a half and then in our losses completely come unwound in the other. Shooting and lack of feeding our bigs seems to be a problem. Also our guards getting beat off the dribble forcing others to help out seems to hurt us a ton. Kofi lack of basketball experience is telling. It’s hurting us against these upper tier opponents. Ayo, Feliz and Trent can’t seem to figure out a rhythm. Frustrating. But this is a loss I already had down let’s play well next game!

Let's not forget we were playing @ MSU. They're really good. We aren't there(yet).
 
#28      
I will be sorely disappointed in Underwood (more than I currently am) if Griffin isn't starting against Purdue over Williams. No clue on why we aren't running screens to get our guards a decent look at 3's. I see the picks but the guards aren't pulling up to take the 3. I'm guessing they aren't coached to do so.....

Gotta agree. Damonte needs to not be starting. It's about as frustrating as Giorgi spending most of his time on the perimeter. We need to fix those 2 things, quickly.
 
#29      
To people who are saying this is fine because it’s at MSU and they had it down as a loss.

There were expectations before the season that the Illini would be a top 25 team this year. You don’t get blown out by 20 and show no ability to score if you were a boarderline top 25 team. So either the team isn’t as good as we thought, or BU isn’t getting them up to their potential. It’s one or the other.
 
#30      
I honestly think we just aren’t ready to make the tournament jump this year because we are such a bad shooting team. We didn’t exactly win a ton of games last year, was it 12? And if you can’t shoot it from deep, how can we expect this team to be a top 6 big 10 team. I thought the guys played hard, just couldn’t hit open looks. Kofi was really bothered by their young lanky center, think we saw tonight why he isn’t a one and done. I hope Griffin gets into the starting line up, he just plays hard. Ayo had a great first half, he is starting to get it going. Big 10 is a gauntlet, let’s protect home court against purdue
 
#32      

Steelyunk

Tobacco Road
I'm going to say this , too. Cockburn, is not good offensively, yet, unless he is really deep. And having GB at the top of the key on offense with the ball in his hands is a bad move. Too many times your going to get a missed 3 or a bad entry for a turnover.
I think this is the biggest indictment of underwood. He’s misusing the talent he has. GB is a liability on the perimeter and is skilled in low post.

griff played starter minutes tonight and 10 min more than Demonte. Starting him, while probably a good move, won’t change much.

we can’t shoot. A great squad like MSU puts that in stark relief. Defense wasn’t bad for first half. Unfortunately that’s a recurring theme with BU teams.

Trents shooting baffles me. If he was hitting more shots this would be a different team. Between him and griffin you could have a consistent outside threat in the game at all times. But - ifs and buts...

i love our team and it’s a drag to see them struggle.
 
#34      
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Classic headline 🙄
 
#35      
AG needs to start. All this Tev talk needs to stop. It is his own fault he isnt experienced like AG. I think once Kofi realizes how good he can be and starts playing like that we will be good. Feliz should is solid rarely does he mess up. I would be fine if we went to about an 8 man rotation. ther are a lot of skilled players but not all of them have the mindset to win. I think AG, Trent, Ayo, Ffeliz, and GB do. i want Kofi to get a little Chris Weber in him and look out.
 
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#36      
Shots didn't fall. This didn't really feel like an 'outcoached' loss. More like we just didn't hit shots tonight. If we shoot 30% from 3 where would we have been at halftime? Imo this isn't on coach. Flame me.
Agree. The offense got open looks, so the system is doing its job. We didn't turn the ball over and get blown out by fast break layups. We got beat by a team that hit their open looks, and even a few that weren't open.
 
#37      
It’s okay to be upset, you should be. This team has been underwhelming so far except for two games against Maryland and Michigan. Something just seems off with this team, they look just as frustrated as the fans. We are 1-2 in big ten play. You either play the guys that will win you games and make adjustments or keep having Giorgi feed Kofi and let teams tear you apart. If we don’t fix the shooting issues soon, teams will destroy us by packing it in.
 
#38      

JJE

Bethalto, IL
I've said it on several occasions, but I will say it again I guarantee this team has locker room issues. Yes, they can't hit the broad side of a barn, but it goes beyond that.
Take this timeline for what it's worth. The headlines aren't all connected and I'm not suggesting some conspiracy, but I have to wonder if there is more that is under the surface.
April 12, 2019: BU cleared of player abuse
May 11, 2019: TJ Holyfield chooses texas Tech over Illinois (not a big deal, but noteworthy)
July 12, 2019: Samba announces he's transfering ( not uncommon for BU)
August 27, 2019: Jamall Walker demoted
August 27, 2019: Gentry hired as an assistant coach
October 26, 2019 Tev suspended (again likely all on Tev)

All of this stuff is pretty small, and might not mean anything. But when you add in frazier having zero confidence, Giorgi looking like hes nearly forgot how to play basketball, Brad dumbfounded on how to motivate this team, Brad allegedly getting fired up an illinois fan at the Braggin Rights game and then mix in the guards differing almost every game until the past couple where ayo has taken over, and lastly the body language of a team that looks disinterested most nights makes me think there is much more problems under the surface.
 
#39      

RedRocksIllini

Morrison, CO
Gonna be interesting to see how Kofi responds after getting completely owned by a guy who can't weight more than 50 pounds.
 
#40      
Underwood looking embattled in press conference. Defensive and angry. You can't run three man teams against big ten coaches and expect to beat them. Next year the freshmen will have to make a huge impact. Reports would say they can. Have to stay the course as long as Curbelo and Miller are coming. Hope the two transfers fit in.
 
#41      
Giorgi looking like hes nearly forgot how to play basketball,

Would agree with almost all but this...Giorgi is being forced to play out of position due to Kofi. Now you don't turn down a Kofi when he is available, but they could play seperately for most of the game, split time. Giorgi would be just fine for us down low, he proved it again tonight. Hell Tillman is a 6'8 PF/C when he is in. Last year Giorgi had the kind of game Tillman had tonight, so it would work.
 
#42      
If I’m reading the box score correctly, the team shot a little over 29% for the game (3 of 28 on 3-point shots, a little over 10% !), 60% on free throws. (I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that low a percentage on 3-point shots.) And Illinois put up 15 more shots than MSU. You won’t beat the Blind Sisters of the Poor with that kind of shooting performance.

IMHO, there are several fellas who are offensively challenged from the perimeter — and these are perimeter players ! And, IMHO, this team sorely needs offensively minded players who are capable and comfortable scoring in double digits every game.
 
#43      
My biggest take away is what I’ve been saying all year. The 3 man weave doesn’t work at this level. Also tevian Jones is getting the minutes he deserves. He can’t shoot.
 
#44      
I don't care if they were playing at, MSU, that was really bad play by the Illini. Can someone shoot a free throw. Ayo, Fraz, GB all missed 1 and 1's and GB topped it off by missing 2. They were totally lost on the ball screens, off balance a lot the second half because no one could keep their man in front.
 
#46      
Multiple full games where we haven’t run one possession of spread, and that is with the stuff we do run not really slicing teams up. It’s gotten Underwood this far and to just scrap it like that I don’t get it.
 
#49      
Multiple full games where we haven’t run one possession of spread, and that is with the stuff we do run not really slicing teams up. It’s gotten Underwood this far and to just scrap it like that I don’t get it.

Tough to spread the court on the offensive end when you are playing 4 on 5. Defense has a huge advantage.