Georgetown 88, Illinois 80 POSTGAME

#176      
This whole ready to pull the plug on Kipper thing is a complete over reaction that everyone is making.

If you think it's bad now, wait until the pull the plug on Kipper.

Overall, yea it sucks that they lost but they played a really good game without their best player. Ayo was the real deal and Giorgi held his own against one of the best bigs he will face all year. A lot of positives can come out of this game and this team will be a lot better going into big ten play.
 
#177      
One thing that stuck out to me is that we didn’t seem to be much of a threat at all from behind the arc. I know sample size of 1 game and Evansville we actually shot lights out from 3, but in today’s age we need to shoot more & better from 3 to beat good teams.

It could have also just jumped out today because of how bad some of our misses were that 3 point shooting seemed cringeworthy.
 
#178      
This whole ready to pull the plug on Kipper thing is a complete over reaction that everyone is making.

If you think it's bad now, wait until the pull the plug on Kipper.

I think we're in an unfortunate position where we need Kipper on the floor to not lose, but that kind of play last night is the polar opposite of the poise required to win games. That was uninspired basketball.
 
#179      
I thought Feliz came in with a rep of being a good permieter shooter? He's put up air balls in all three games (exhibition included) to this point and put up two last night. That has me concerned. But....he did take over the game at times last night!!!!
 
#181      
I thought Feliz came in with a rep of being a good permieter shooter? He's put up air balls in all three games (exhibition included) to this point and put up two last night. That has me concerned. But....he did take over the game at times last night!!!!


He shot 38-91, 41.8%, from 3 last year. Too small of a sample size yet to be concerned.
 
#182      

mattcoldagelli

The Transfer Portal
3) Giorgi is a straight upgrade over Michael Finke. He's got Finke's skillset, is faster, and plays with fire. Still commits some freshman mistakes. I think he had 2 moving screens, and those really hurt. But in general, he played with poise, he played with intensity, and he rebounded. He will never be able to be a lane banger to hang with the true centers of the NCAA, but he is more than serviceable and will be a stellar 4-year player for us

Story of the (tiny) season, so far. Even more than how good Ayo has been. It's not just that he's contributed - we legitimately miss him when he's not on the floor.
 
#183      
Kipper's play at times was frustrating, but the calls for benching him are just silly in my book. Overall I saw a lot of positives, but that ending did give me flashbacks to last year. But then I remembered that Trent didn't play. If he had, I believe we win that game. Does anyone think G'town would have won if Akinjo misses the game with a concussion?

First time seeing the new crop of Illini and overall I was encouraged. Ayo is really fun to watch. And he's looks like a better outside shooter than I thought he would be given all the talk on here about his shooting form. All the others other than De la Rosa showed at least some good thing. Hopefully when he actually gets into game shape he can give us some solid minutes.

Illini still have a ways to go, but they're moving in the right direction. Hopefully this game and Trent coming back will help us play better in Maui and get some wins. The first game against Gonzaga has the potential to get ugly, but hopefully they can keep it somewhat close and then grab some wins in the consolation bracket. If the first games hold form, a second round matchup with Iowa St. could be pretty interesting.
 
#186      
Pretty much where I'm at. I want to say I was encouraged by a lot tonight but then I remember we were facing a not so great team on our home floor. The fact that I'm trying to find moral victories from that is just pathetic.
They were the real deal before we played them and we were going to find out what this team was really made of. Now they(Georgetown) are a "not so great team".... Give our team some credit... Govan is a stud and we made that team look like a "not so great team! "
 
#187      

Tacomallini

Washington State
Last night's announced attendance (albeit some student freebies in there) was 14,656 or 94% of capacity. Kudos to the fanbase for that type of performance.
Double kudos to JW or corporate sponsor or wealthy dowager or whoever was behind the ticket giveaway to pack the stands.
 
#188      
Intangibles: Heart. Relentless. Instinct. Coolness under pressure. (I might be missing some) We have guys with these pluses- Trent, Ayo, Damonte, probably Giorgi and Andres. AJ and Kipper just a bit short there. And to me that’s the story. They are Illini and gave themselves to the effort. We need them for us to succeed. Great young men but are role players at high D1. Love their sacrifice and dedication.

I hope Tev, Allen and the others can showcase some intangibles to go with their skills. We are 2,3,4 high intangibles players away from the top.
 
#189      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
3) Giorgi is a straight upgrade over Michael Finke. He's got Finke's skillset, is faster, and plays with fire. Still commits some freshman mistakes. I think he had 2 moving screens, and those really hurt. But in general, he played with poise, he played with intensity, and he rebounded. He will never be able to be a lane banger to hang with the true centers of the NCAA, but he is more than serviceable and will be a stellar 4-year player for us.

Wait? You mean our coaching staff might know exactly what they're doing with regards to recruiting? I'll sit back and patiently wait for everyone to present the deserved accolades.
 
#190      
we've had so many games over the years where you say - oh, if only we had won that one, we would have gotten to the tourney. this was one of those. if you came into the season thinking we had zero shot at tourney and were going to be satisfied with a .500 record, this was not a must win. but if you were clinging to the idea that maybe, just maybe, we'd have enough talent and good coaching to surprise some people this year and make a run at the bubble, you absolutely have to win a home game against a young and mediocre P5 team. Of course we might have won if Trent played, but that's completely irrelevant to this analysis. Wins are going to be hard to come by this year and if we're going to have a decent year we have to capitalize on all available opportunities. this was one, and we couldn't pull it off.
We are not Kentucky and Duke. If you expect our freshman and sprinkle of upperclassmen to win against a good opponent with talented guards and a potential pro center without or best player... please snap back to reality... we played well at home and made young mistakes as expected.... a win would have been unexpected with the loss of TF being announced shortly before the game. We were only 6 points over before the announcement. So....
 
#191      
Guys need to stop hating on kipper. He is VITAL to this team. His athleticism and size are imperative to our success, especially come B10 play. We would have lost by 20 last night without him. Kipper actually played a great game last night and showed MUCH improvement over last season. Biggest improvement for me was his defense and hustle.
 
#192      
I don't really like to blame one player... But holy cow Kipper. Fouled out. Missed go ahead layup. Terrible bricked last second 3, block foul on and 1 last second shot. 3 possessions in a row.

IMHO Kipper's greatest need for improvement is his mental approach to the game. Some guys just don't have the chip on their shoulder and focus to bring it in big games, and I find Kipper to be a guy who's inconsistent. It's frustrating because watching him you know he can do better. I think it's doubly frustrating in that we saw a lot of softness in the Groce years, and we desparately need to get over the hump and get rid of guys who can't push to the finish and close games out with effort and pride. I'd love to see him develop that, but I don't think it's realistic to project traits on him he doesn't currently have.

That said, I think the guys behind him have to earn their minutes. Even if Kipper has weaknesses, it's up to those guys to compete with him, and him to compete to keep his minutes. I really think we win this game with Trent --sucks big time not to have your best player. What a difference for us as fans to find out the kid suffered a concussion earlier and needs to rest. But F!@# us as fans. Happy they care enough about his health to play it safe.

There were definitely positives in this game. LOT of ups and downs defensively that need to improve. I give Georgetown a lot of credit. They made plenty of mistakes, but never wavered --and that's a young team too.

We need to get over the hump, but we have a lot of freshman, and it's unrealistic not to think they'll be freshman this year.
 
#193      
Guys need to stop hating on kipper. He is VITAL to this team. His athleticism and size are imperative to our success, especially come B10 play. We would have lost by 20 last night without him. Kipper actually played a great game last night and showed MUCH improvement over last season. Biggest improvement for me was his defense and hustle.

Haven't read the whole thread, but agree we need him, even if I see some weakness in his game. Not a hater by any means, and didn't mean to pile on if the discussion already went after him.
 
#194      

Deleted member 29907

D
Guest
Mac McClung=247 sports composite #245
He hustles, I'll give him that and once at the rim did well - but is absolutely no threat from the outside. Looking at comments from the GU boards it looks like both McClung and Akinjo were not getting raves from their first two games. I think a zone might have caused them more issues yesterday - shame we didn't at least give it a shot - especially down a man and with fouls starting to pile up.
 
#195      
Like AJ as a person, but doesn’t have enough athleticism to be on the court against teams that have athletes.

I find this post really uninformed from a basketball perspective. Georgetown had as much length and size as anyone we'll play. You really need this offense running at full steam to get the looks that make a great shooter like AJ shine, and it's got to be that much crisper when you play a team like Gtown. I think later in the year as they get better at running the offense, you'll have games where AJ goes off. We were gassed at times, and the second half was a struggle. They'll get better at that, and when Trent's in the lineup, that alone will help AJ.
 
#196      

Deleted member 29907

D
Guest
Story of the (tiny) season, so far. Even more than how good Ayo has been. It's not just that he's contributed - we legitimately miss him when he's not on the floor.
No doubt - these two have come out of the gate MUCH more productive and confident than any of our recent history freshman. Very nice surprise. I am hoping Giorgi can somehow contain Happ this year as our previous years efforts have been a complete embarrassment (e.g. lets let Happ dribble the ball up the court and just work his way to the basket giving ground the entire way).
 
#197      
It won't. It won't matter one bit. This is an extraordinarily young team that is going to be playing a very difficult schedule. My guess is we're going to see 5 or 6 non-conference losses this year, in various ways. Tonight, they didn't close the game out. Had to kind of expect that when Frazier was ruled out.

They are fun, they look athletic, but it's going to take some time for these pieces to fit together.

Like someone else said....learn from it and move on the the next one.

My sentiments too. I think we'll have moments with flashes, and we'll see the culture and offense improve. But I think it's going to be rough this year given the schedule and our youth. Every game is going to matter, so the more fight these guys have in them, the better their chances at success.
 
#200      
I think Underwood believes his best chance is to sacrifice layups for pressure. They won't survive many games with good bigs because they have no interior defense. Otherwise we will be sitting in a zone all game and I don't think that fits his aggressive nature.
I don't think a lot of folks appreciate how valuable forced turnovers are. Holding all else equal, if last year's team would have forced just an NCAA-average number of turnovers, they would have had to drop their defensive 2P% by about nine percent to make up the difference. That would have put their 2P% squarely in the top quintile.

Underwood doesn't have the personnel to defend the post that well, regardless of what system he installs.