Baylor 82, Illinois 69 Postgame

[Ga65]

Just looking at the stat sheet shooting stats were the same but we got beat badly on the offensive boards with Kofi only playing 18 mins. Giorgi can replace him offensively but need more help on the boards than DaMonte can give. He was the leading rebounder with 7 but our strength on the boards disappears with Kofi. Hawkins did get 3 in 5 mins so there is potential but teams will try to get Kofi in foul trouble which he was mostly (surprisely) successfull at avoiding last year.

 

[ILFaninFL]

I never thought we would win them all, and this may turn into a blessing in disguise. It’s easy when your down to bounce back. It’s hard when you’re on top to keep pushing to get better. Now we know that we aren't there yet but I trust we will get there.

I also predict that Duke goes down. Ayo, Ace, and Kofi have something to prove to the world after this game.

 

[thedrunkreferee]

A 4 or 5 star recruit should not be getting outplayed by a Presbyterian transfer... period...

Meanwhile we’re pumped about having a transfer from Holy Cross...step off the ledge.

 

[Ga65]

We lost by 13 and Baylor had 24 2nd chance points to our 7. It’s called rebounding and you don’t win without it.

 

[the juiceman cometh]

Whatever, man. If your fandom involves a race to the bottom, you speed on ahead.

It's barely December. If you let the silly #5 ranking set your expectations for an early game against a top-3 team, that's on you.

I hope that you don't seriously need a minimum of 40 minutes of one-possession basketball to keep you off a cliff. Illinois could have won this game by double digits and what would that guarantee? No more losses? A national championship? Nothing was ever going to be settled here today.

You're acting like you've seen enough to write this season off, but me and the Thanksgiving leftovers in my fridge say that's totally premarure. Losing a signature non-con game does not define a season.

You're putting an awful lot of words in my mouth. I'm not going off a cliff or writing this team off. It can both be true that 1. this is a good team and 2. this was not a good game. It seems that every time anyone expresses a negative sentiment, there's a chorus on here ready to shout it down. I'm going to be excited when this team plays well and disappointed when they don't. I guess that's just the bizarre way my fandom works.

 

[IndyILL]

Were we watching the same game? We showed up to play. We just fell asleep for like a 5 minute stretch in the second half and you can't do that and recover against a team like Baylor.

For most of the game we played at worst even with them despite our best two players being ice cold. I am not happy, per se, but encouraged that we are a good team now and by mid-season we will be a true force.

Yes to this!

IMHO
* We have 3 Freshmen that can really play & will improve.
* GB is back!
* For the majority of the night we went toe to toe with a scary good team... without playing our best ball.
* A healthy Curbello will take our offense to another level.
* Hawkins - seems like a legit stretch four to me... for this year.
* Baylor is playing close to their ceiling right now. Illinois... not even close!
* The BIG season before us will prepare us for some crazy dancin in March!

 

[jrichisamazing]

I saw enough to confidently say we have the Final 4 and B1G Championship within our grasp. I was pretty happy we found a way to manufacture points despite them locking down pretty much anything we tried to do. Their defense is the best in the country, but for most of the game our defense was right there with them.

Really, just a 5 minute stretch around the 12 minute mark where we didn't get any rebounds or 50/50 balls and gave up some easy transition buckets and open 3's from offensive rebounds.

I would love to have a rematch in March. And I can't wait to see how Curbelo looks by then.

 

[TooHot4Tots]

Hope this loss teaches the team a lesson. Come out ready to play a full 40 minutes of intense basketball. We did not and it showed early, but we were right there. Obviously Baylor wanted it more to start the 2nd half and the Illini folded. Hopefully a better outcome vs Duke, but not playing like that. Baylor has some tough athletes.

 

[coachingillini]

Baylor would absolutely smoke any other team in the B1G I've watched this year. And that is with Hawkins, Giorgi and Belo playing earlier and more significant minutes than i was expecting. I am not remotely worried.

How about Brad quit calling timeouts at the end of a half so the other team can put in their best defensive players and watch us run some iso set that generally leads to a turnover or terrible shot. How about Brad have a better offensive game plan than the weave, make two passes on top of the key and watch Ayo. How about BRAD call some plays for some post touches in the second half. It was obvious the only clear advantage we had at half was the play of Giorgi and Kofi potential. I cant remember a set play for either one in the second half.

 

[CtownILL]

Williams at the for does not equal a final four team. I appreciate his heart and effort but we need more size at the 4.

 

[ChocolateThunder]

Pretty similar to the problem we experienced early in the season last year,
Lack of coordination, ineffective passing/ball movement, not playing as a team yet.
AD/AM shooting 8 for 30 is not going to win many games.

 

[Illini in OC]

What a terrible coaching effort by Underwood. That effort was pathetic.

 

[TCTORNADO]

FWIW, KenPom moved us back to #24. Baylor remained at #2.

 

[TCTORNADO]

Williams at the for does not equal a final four team. I appreciate his heart and effort but we need more size at the 4.

BBV is on his way. He suited up last night and should get some minutes on Saturday.

 

[thehass]

We played good defense and they played great defense. They took the ball to the rim and we did the perimeter weave. We turned the ball over and didnt rebound the second half. They took us out of our run transition offense which is our strength and made us play half court sets which is not our strong suit. At one point I thought we were going to lose by more than 20 points. Hope we learned a few things including BU as we move forward. Baylor is a legit top 5 team and we are not YET. On to Duke and not let this loss linger.

 

[Illini in OC]

Wow Baylor is tough!!! Experienced, highly skilled team, ready for prime time. #2 deserved.
Well-executed game plan on D. Obvious priority was to limit Ayo.
Illini learning how to play the very best in the spotlight. Baylor already knows how.
Kofi PFs hurt us.
Need to fix TOs.
Belo, Giorgi, Hawkins, Monte - solid
Confident we'll be where we want to be in March.
Looking forward to Duke to see what we learned.
R-E-L-A-X

 

[illiniguy24]

One thing I’ve been thinking since the game ended is:

I don’t think any opposing coach can watch the film and really take much away from it, no other team be able to create havoc for us on the perimeter defense like Baylor did while also being able to knock down the shots the did against our defense.

Baylor truly is a great team

 

[Goode-for-3]

The Bad:
Ayo, Miller, and Kofi all struggled offensively.
Kofi couldn’t keep his hands to himself on defensive rebounds and decided he’d rather sit on the bench than help out.
Miller was way out of position several times on defense (in particular his man was wide open for an easy 3 after a Baylor offensive rebound)
Our team seemed to give up with about 12 minutes remaining or was just so tired it was effectively the same as giving up (Baylor had a lot of depth - Ayo probably should have had a few more sits to stay fresh)

The Good:
We were neck-and-neck for 3/4 of the game (tied at 43 with 13 remaining) with a team that very likely will finish the season as a top 4 team (probably top 2)
Curbelo is going to be great. He broke through defenders more often than Ayo (Baylor wasn’t giving him the same respect) and had some great passes. He took some bad shots and passed on at least one wide open 3 so there’s still room for improvement.
Hawkins could turn into our best player. It gave me hope that Hawkins + Giorgi might be a good enough 4/5 for next year that our miss on Mac won’t be a total disaster (still need some more depth behind them but those 2 played very well tonight)
Da’Monte will had his shot, that’s the final games of last year AND the first 4 of this season now where he’s been a shooter. That’s absolutely huge.
Other than Kofi, nothing looked “terrible”. Kofi can’t have many more games like that though if he thinks he’s going to get drafted...

 

[IlliniFandom]

Some observations:
- Baylor is a tough team and deserving of their #2 ranking. They were always in command of the game and we were playing catch-up the entire time. They have a defense that can win a national championship with an offense to match. They were lock-down on the perimeter and so athletic that we couldn't get any rhythm.
- We competed, but in no way do I think we played to our potential. A good portion was due to Baylor taking us out of our comfort zone, but some of it was on us as well. Those turnovers, rebounds. Makes me wish we had Alan Griffin back because he would've helped more in that area.
- Ayo...this is the big stage you wanted. Gotta step-up and show those scouts who were undoubtedly watching that you're worthy of their pick. He went up against a potential NBA player and definitely some future pro-players. He wasn't dominant and couldn't finish against that level of competition/athleticism...yet. If we know Ayo, he is just getting warmed up...he adapts and learns and I have no doubt that he'll be watching this game, dissecting this game to see what he could've done differently.
- Kofi, similar story. I think this only intensifies the gap between what he is, traditional big, and partially what the NBA has, athletic bigs that can also stretch the floor. Baylor didn't have a stretch 5, but the athletic 5 tuned Kofi up a bit. Foul trouble didn't help, so let's see as we progress, but for me the reality of him coming back next year went up. Garza could've competed better and I think would've exerted his style on the game. Kofi isn't there yet, but will show flashes this year. He'll just need to do it consistently.
- Lastly, freshman competed. Ace saw what it will mean to be up against the best and he'll learn. I thought Curbello played the best out of the freshman. Whenever he was on the court, it felt like we were able to penetrate more and loosen up their defense. He's a defensive liability, but our offense was struggling. Poor Ayo had to run through 2-3 defenders just to get near the basket. And Hawkins surprised me the most. He sees a role, accepts it, and with his time, finds ways to contribute. LOVE that steal he had by taking it out of Baylor's hands.

Ultimately wished we had won of course, but this is only game #4. No shame in losing to the #2 team that was the #1 team last year and just had one of those shooting nights where they couldn't miss. I'm not sad about this loss, but know the guys will learn and improve from this. Let's see how we do against Duke!

 

[BMoreIllini]

Baylor is going to be a force this year. The reason is because almost their entire rotation is in at least their third year at Baylor
Vital - 5th year
Butler - 3rd year
Teauge - 3rd year
Mitchell - 3rd year
Thamba - 3rd year
Mayer - 3rd year
Flager - 2nd year
Tchatchoua - 2nd year

They can go 6 guys deep who are in their 3rd year, and 2 others who are in their second year. There are other bench guys who also have at least 2 years there. These guys just know how to play together. Drew has done a great job with them.

Look at our rotation:
DMW: 4th year
Frazier: 4th year
Ayo: 3rd year
Giorgi: 3rd year
Kofi: 2nd year
Miller: 1st year
Curbelo: 1st year
Hawkins: 1st year

We have only 4 guys in their 3rd+ year and 3 guys who have been practicing with the team for less than 6 months. Come March, our team will play with anyone, they're even showing that they can do that now in long stretches.

 

[RockfordIllini]

Tale of two halves on the glass, which is where we lost this one IMO.

I checked the stats at the half and I think we were at least plus 6 on rebounds, and we wound up losing the rebounding battle by a pretty considerable margin, which tells you how much Baylor dominated the glass in the second half.

I would want to rewatch the tape to confirm, but I felt like they had a lot of long rebounds in the second half and their guards were just quicker to the ball than we were. All that extra time on defense tired us out and also killed our spirits a little bit I think, both enough to enable Baylor to pull away.

Credit to Baylor on defense. I think they did a great job of speeding us up, hence the poor shooting night.

One thing I’ve noticed is how poorly we execute the pick and roll on offense. Kofi came up and tried to set a screen for Ayo at least 5 times in the last 10 minutes and never achieved any separation for Ayo. I don’t understand it. Kofi is a human wall. If we can get Ayo and Kofi to execute the pick and roll better (at all?) and get both going downhill to the rim that’s where they are both at their best. Even Bilas was calling for a pick and roll.

And speaking of pick and roll Baylor executed it really well and seemed to emphasize it in the second half. Good adjustment by Drew.

All that said lots of positives to take away against the best perimeter defense in the country. Help looked great. I think once the game slows down for Hawkins a bit he’s going to be a real asset. Might have the best looking stroke on the team. And if we get 2019 Giorgi like we did tonight we will be a very well balanced team offensively. Not sure why we seemed to get away from
Giorgi in the second half as they didn’t really match up well with him.

Baylor was the better team tonight but we hung with them and we’ve got time to figure things out. Should be a fun season as long as we can stay COVID free.

 

[Pikeillinifan]

Pretty similar to the problem we experienced early in the season last year,
Lack of coordination, ineffective passing/ball movement, not playing as a team yet.
AD/AM shooting 8 for 30 is not going to win many games.

That's what concerned me the most. When the pressure was stepped up and Baylor really clamped down (I guess they did that all game) and made their run, we seemed to stop moving without the ball, stopped passing, and went back to having someone dribble around and throw up a shot outside of the offense.

 

[EyeoftheIllini]

BBV is on his way. He suited up last night and should get some minutes on Saturday.

I hope you’re right. I will say I’m not as convinced that he is the answer some believe him to be. Just haven’t seen enough of him. But if he can stay healthy he gives Brad another piece.

 

[Deleted member 380722]

It’s just very discouraging to see the half-court offense struggle so badly. It’s one thing to lose, it’s another thing to lose in the fashion we did. High-caliber teams are not going to let us get out in transition. There are going to be games where we need to adapt our offensive strategy.

 

[TCTORNADO]

Adam Flagler and Grandison came out of the same transfer portal a year and a half ago. Basically, ranked by TRank the same in their respective leagues. Flagler #13 in the Big South and Grandison #19 in the Patriot League. Last night it was not even close. Is that poor talent evaluation or excellent coaching development??