Illinois 59, Minnesota 51 POSTGAME

#126      

IllinistuckinGopherland

IllinistuckinGopherland
IllinistuckinGopherland
Just finished on dvr

1) That might be the most one-sided, against-the-home-team officiating I’ve seen. I like Oturu, but not as much as the refs... unbelievable.

2). I have never watched a close game get put away in the last minute, thought “wow, what a closer” about the guy who single-handedly ices the game, and that guy never scored a point. Coffee is for closers, and tonight Damonte gets free refills.
 
#129      

illinibballfan

I
illinibballfan
Illiniguy90 said:
I could not disagree more. All 5 are wins for the taking. The only thing holding this team back right now will be themselves. Unless a team has a 3 pt shooter than can hit it consistently from 5 feet beyond the arc I don’t think there’s anything they can’t guard and they have about 7 different ways to score.
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Agreed. Win the two at home to protect home court is not only possible, but I would say probable. The road games may be tougher. People have doubted me like this team for a while. I’m calling 4-1 due to having an off night on the road, but 5-0 is definitely within reach if we keep the D and rebounding going and have at least one of Trent or Ayo getting hot in each game. Damonte should get a lot of credit for tonight, but Trent his back to back threes early which pretty much has Minnesota playing from behind all night. Those don’t go in, we’re probably playing from behind most of the night.
 
#131      

PlayAZ

P
PlayAZ
Illiniguy90 said:
I could not disagree more. All 5 are wins for the taking. The only thing holding this team back right now will be themselves. Unless a team has a 3 pt shooter than can hit it consistently from 5 feet beyond the arc I don’t think there’s anything they can’t guard and they have about 7 different ways to score.
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Are you just disagreeing with the 2/3 wins out of 5? All 5 are for the taking yes, but EVERY one of the next 5 is against ranked opponents, which means every game against our ILLINI could be for the taking as well.
 
#133      

PlayAZ

P
PlayAZ
skyIdub said:
Oturu...39 minutes...1 foul
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If Kofi would have made his moves, many around Oturu, and simply pump faked and then went strong, Oturu would have fouled out...he was anticipating every Kofi strong move, strong step and jump. Kofi is 7' and really doesn't need to pump fake anyone, however with an athletic big like tonight it may have helped.
 
#134      

Illiniguy90

I
Illiniguy90
PlayAZ said:
Are you just disagreeing with the 2/3 wins out of 5? All 5 are for the taking yes, but EVERY one of the next 5 is against ranked opponents, which means every game against our ILLINI could be for the taking as well.
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That’s what I call a practice series for our national title run later this season. Gotta win them all in a row against what are likely the top 25 teams in the country to make it there!
 
#135      

Hopingfor500

H
Hopingfor500
illini677 said:
Name a team outside the BIG that has to play 5 ranked teams in a row.
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This is going to help us regardless of outcome. Our SOS is going to inflate big-time. If we can pick off one or two, that would be fantastic. There's going to be no bad losses in this mess. The fact that they've already won three on the road, has given them a lot of leeway. Five large opportunities coming up. While it's tough, no other teams in any other conference has these types of resume building opportunities.
 
#137      

Kingsnake22

K
Kingsnake22
Incredible game and atmosphere, I will say, it was much easier to get out of Champaign when the Illini weren’t as good but .....I enjoyed the slight traffic after another win.
 
#139      

Bailey

B
Los Angeles
Bailey
JFGsCoffeeMug said:
Really thrilled for Feliz and Kipper. They must be having so much fun in their last year of college ball. This is a dream season and they're making meaningful contributions wherever they can.

Keep it up fellas.
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Those two played so awesome tonight too. Also thought Kofi was a beast in a tough matchup.

Props to Minny btw. They're tough.
 
#141      

LoveLovie

L
LoveLovie
I'd like to point out that imo there were several times where Kofi banged against lottery pick Oturu (rightfully) and it appeared that he couldn't guard him; however, the inverse was true several times as well. I was impressed by the possession in which Kofi guarded Oturu on the three point line and maintained his defense to the paint in which help side defense caused a travel. Kofi has all the tools, he just needs to be money from outside layup territory. The dude almost had a steal at the three point line.
 
#145      

breadman

B
Herndon, VA
breadman
Wonderfully tough win yet again to get to 7 in a row.
Next 5 against rated teams? Wow!
Quite the challenge.
Have we ever faced this before?
 
#146      

RML

R
RML
illini677 said:
Dre 17 points 8 rebounds 3 assists. Dude is killin it.
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When we First got an eight-point lead, and they missed their shot, I thought, "now take it to ten". The ball went to Feliz, and I immediately KNEW it was a done deal. Can't remember having that degree of confidence in anyone since the '05 era.
 
#147      

Illini03

I
Illini03
jrichisamazing said:
The offensive strategy was puzzling tonight though. Oturu has the speed and agility to cover the pick n roll pretty well, yet it seemed like we used it way more than normal. I know we haven't ran as much spread this year, but I'm pretty sure we didn't run it at all this game. Why not try it a couple times since nothing else is working? And Oturu/Demir wanted no part of Kofi/Giorgi down low. Both of those guys should have been fed all night long.
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I was thinking the same thing. Would have been nice to run it as a change of pace or to get to a Georgi/Kofi high-low situation
 
#150      

BuddyJ

B
BuddyJ
Ga65 said:
So where would we be ranked if we win the next five?
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if we win the next 5, I’d guess 10ish? Hard to argue much higher with 5 losses. Rising higher would
Probably rely on top 10 teams dropping a few games.