If he plays like that he is going to get 20 min. Multiple offensive plays and good D in the paint ( needs some work on the perimeter D still )
Illinois 66, Hawaii 53 POSTGAME
And 21 minutes and 9 points is outstanding.
The no TOs and only 2 fouls add to that.
Two players sitting out, BBV injury and then the Jones suspension hurt. The players that transfered out would have been nice bench players. I think Underwood and staff have identified and brought in talent. Kipper's inconsistency and Williams lack of production so far have hurt depth too.
Half court offense still needs a ton of work. Not sure after three years if this is what it will be or if they can still improve a fair amount. Happy for the W, second half looked better.
1. First game I have watched this year and I’m very disappointed in the shooting, turnovers, and defensive lapses. Work to do.
2. Kofi is certainly fun to watch and has made great strides in the past year. He simply has to slow down and shoot the basketball as he just threw it at the basket too many times and too quickly to be effective in making shots. However, he is quite a weapon for a freshman. Sure would love to have him for four years but he should be around for two whether he thinks so or not He is no Andre Aston, but he could approach that level with a lot of hard work and time to learn.
3. Overall, this team has not improved much since last year except at the centr position. I would like to see them work harder at getting Fraser and Griffin some shots early in the game as they are the only two dependable shooters. Big 10 teams will take away the drivers and make this team shoot... and they have not shown they can hit shots off quick ball movement without turnovers...and those must both improve.
2. Kofi is certainly fun to watch and has made great strides in the past year. He simply has to slow down and shoot the basketball as he just threw it at the basket too many times and too quickly to be effective in making shots. However, he is quite a weapon for a freshman. Sure would love to have him for four years but he should be around for two whether he thinks so or not He is no Andre Aston, but he could approach that level with a lot of hard work and time to learn.
3. Overall, this team has not improved much since last year except at the centr position. I would like to see them work harder at getting Fraser and Griffin some shots early in the game as they are the only two dependable shooters. Big 10 teams will take away the drivers and make this team shoot... and they have not shown they can hit shots off quick ball movement without turnovers...and those must both improve.
The offense will continue to improve, clean up the turnovers and we’re a pretty good team.
t7nich
- Central IL
Completely agree. I’m starting to wonder how much better it would actually be with guys like Curbelo and Miller (should he come here) if we’re running the same half court crap.
Only way he gets to Andre Ayton status is 4 years of work....he has only played ball for 5 years so far. He has the capability and the promise, but the game is way to fast, his hands are good on the catch, not so much on the release?
Still looks very robotic at times, Andre drives, Trent shoots, Ayo is a fast break waiting to happen, but NO ONE really drives the ball and is effective doing it?
Agree except he needs to learn when to let a guy go....he committed 2 and ones on basket he couldn't recover. He even knew it as soon as he did both. I know it's all instinct and reaction, but he is a senior.....
The Illini played well the last 10 minutes of the game . They seemed to get in a rhythm offensively and really moved the ball well in the half court. The turnovers were reduced greatly in the second half. It's interesting that DW did not get any tick in the second half.
Pretty mediocre overall. Slow starts continue to be a concern, shooting still a concern (at least we were better on 3s tonight), and depth continues to be a concern. We need corrections or we are going to drop a bad one before conference play starts. Giorgi, Trent, and Kipper had some nice games though. And Kofi had a great stat line even though he looked pretty off a lot of the night.
Lol. Kofi was pretty much on the whole second half.
My point was mainly that he had 5 TOs and was 6/15 from the field. I thought he looked a bit out of sorts at times.
They got the win. Still plenty of time to gel, but a lot to work on. The only things that have really impressed me this season have been rebounds and points in the paint. They shot better at 3 tonight, but regardless I am impressed with Kofi and the team for not completely folding on poor shooting nights from the perimeter.
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
Agree with this across the board
Very lackluster effort the 1st half. Illini did a good job getting the ball to Kofi in good position. He missed a couple gimme's inside the little arc in 1st half. I would have liked to see him shoot more like 10 for 15 considering where he got the ball. Being able to make that 7-8 foot jump hook would make him very difficult to guard. Not there , yet.
Even though they had 6 to's second half 16 is still too many. Ayo and Feliz missed pretty much uncontested lay-ups tonight ( 1). Could have easily had another 8-10 points IL make the lay-ups and bunnies, tonight.
GB, had good night on boards after 1 rebound against , AZ. Ayo, played good D, maybe pressing a little on offensive end, i don't know.
Even though they had 6 to's second half 16 is still too many. Ayo and Feliz missed pretty much uncontested lay-ups tonight ( 1). Could have easily had another 8-10 points IL make the lay-ups and bunnies, tonight.
GB, had good night on boards after 1 rebound against , AZ. Ayo, played good D, maybe pressing a little on offensive end, i don't know.
Hope to see Tevian soon. Want to see it click for him at Illinois. Quality minutes by Griffin.
- Liked the time for Kipper
- Ayo just needs to play and get the NBA thing out of his head
- Kofi's upside is incredible
- the team that has played thus far is not a top tier conference team
- yes, the second half showed glimpses of what could be
- Still, would like to see Underwood get a bit more fired up about mental toughness for this team, the turnovers are ridiculous.
This. Kofi is good now and has an enormous upside, but he is far from being the complete package. The thing that strikes me as oddest is that his hands seem very week. When a defender reached in, the ball came out, every time. That shouldn't happen with someone that big and that strong.