Michigan 79, Illinois 69 POSTGAME

#26      
I hate to say it but Kipper seemed rather distant coming out of one particular timeout and the coach speak? Also I think this team is Ayo officially now. Trent is in a funk and Ayo is stepping up B1G!
 
#27      
Never saw the game, but the box score told plenty.

So 14 pt spread in free throws, and lost by 10. This seems to be a re occurring nightmare. This against the No. 4 team in nation.
We lose by 6 to Gonzaga under similar situation if I remember correctly, and other game(s). (Only 2 pts behind with 30 seconds.)

If we had stopped fouling earlier, we would have killed a couple of top notch teams, let alone lesser teams.

Work on lesser fouls, and next season we get more height, hopefully fewer fouls, and we win some of these high profile games.
Our record should sky rocket. I said should.

keep on truckin

joe
 
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#28      

Deleted member 29907

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No idea where this is coming from. I saw so many execution mistakes I couldn't keep track of them. Michigan, on the road, controlled us the whole way, just as expected. And honestly, that's wasn't Michigan's A game by a long shot.

I didn't see anything in this game that made me think we'll get over the hump. We might at some point, but I didn't see it here tonight. Still plenty of freshman mistakes, and the whole doesn't look much different than the sum of the parts.
Its pretty simple - 1) they played a #2 team and score 15 points above that team's average for teams they play. 2) Giorgi's inside play was very good considering the competition, and 3) Ayo scored 19 in the first half. 4) we actually got more than a few passes to the rim for baskets. 5) More than a few blocks at the backboard.

Yes we made dumb young team stupid plays (usually at the moment of closing the gap) and missed some bunnies. Its frustrating but did you expect a 10 point win tonight?

Sorry, you can't run the team down, and then say "Oh, well Michigan didn't play well". Most seemed to play close to their averages and Simmons had a season high as I recall. Give some credit to the boys when due - they had something to do with Michigan not playing well.
 
#29      
No idea where this is coming from. I saw so many execution mistakes I couldn't keep track of them. Michigan, on the road, controlled us the whole way, just as expected. And honestly, that's wasn't Michigan's A game by a long shot.

I didn't see anything in this game that made me think we'll get over the hump. We might at some point, but I didn't see it here tonight. Still plenty of freshman mistakes, and the whole doesn't look much different than the sum of the parts.

I respectfully disagree. Freshman execution mistakes are still present, but for one, Underwood is making adjustments. We are running a lot more offense through Bez in the post and guys are cutting better (notice that alley oop play which was rightfully trashed earlier in the season worked 3 times tonight). Damonte, it appears, is starting to be more aggressive on offense. Feliz isn’t forcing it as much. Looks like the fouling just maybe might be getting more under control...however you look at it, our foundational pieces of Ayo, Trent and Bez belong in the BIG10 and look pretty nice to build around.
 
#30      
The #2 team in the country just beat us by 10. We're 4-12. We're a long way from where any of us want, W & L wise. However, Kofi just committed, Ayo is a stud, Georgi is/going to be a stud, Trent will be fine (showed signs in the 2nd half). I look at tonight's game and think, Floridia Atlantic was rock bottom and, with the recent 5 star center commit we're on our way back up.
 
#31      
how can the most athletic player we have who has supposively has had great practices NOT GET ON THE COURT
 
#33      
While it did not seem the refs took over this game in any way, they sure did contribute to making sure we had no chance tonight. There seemed to be many no-calls that could have made a real difference, as well as some very questionable out of bounds calls to could have easily gone our way. Definitely did not have any home court advantage with the crew we had tonight. I wish Underwood would have kept his composure, but I think he was justified.
 
#34      
That hand-off play needs to be buried! Have no idea what it accomplishes. Only seen it produce a couple times all year, once when Kane turned went to rim and dunked against UNLV. I have seen multiple offensive fouls on our guy handing off and turnovers, because of a botched hand-off. Little out of control on offensive end in second half at times. I thought they played hard, though.
 
#35      

t7nich

Central IL
Thought we played pretty good D, considering the opponent. Especially Ayo.

Too many guys getting loads of minutes and barely contributing (if at all) on offense. Not sure if it’s the players or the system, probably a combination.. but it’s killing us.
 
#36      

Deleted member 746094

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Do some of you watch basketball outside of the UofI? Michigan is beating teams by 17.3ppg and holding teams to 55ppg. They beat Villanova by 27 and held UNC to 67. UNC is averaging 89ppg. We weren’t supposed to beat them tonight. They are #2 in the country for a reason. We play them to a 10 point game with essentially freshmen and sophomores and some on here still can’t give credit where credit is due. Statistically Michigan played at the level they have been playing at all year. We played well. Look at the statistics from the game. We were supposed to lose by 9 to 11 points right? This team is getting better, but we will have to take the good with the bad as we are young and still growing.

Ayo is gaining confidence and showing why he was a Top 30 recruit.

Trent hit a couple. Hopefully that gets him going and he can get that “swag” back. I thought he passed on a couple step backs that he would have taken two weeks ago. He will get there.

Giorgi was good. He gets a little off balance looking for contact on his post moves. He will be a 12 and 6 guy the rest of the year.

Our “upperclassmen” were really non factors when considering what you would expect from your leaders. Kipper is just mentally lost at times and AJ just can’t create his own offense. 12pts, 6reb and 6 assist from a senior and a r-JR in 56 combined minutes is not impactful.

We didn’t get much from the bench. 6pts, 2reb and 5 assists.

Bring on KWhitney, KWalker, Brown, Patterson, TSJ, Archie...we desperately need 6’5+ athletic wings that can score and go up and get rebounds. Still feel we are trending in the right way.
 
#39      
just to put things in perspective after tonight’s L:

We have played 48 games w BU. 34 against high major/NCAA tournament teams. We have won 18 games total since Underwood has taken office. We have gone 4-19 in conference games. We are 6-28 against high-major/NCAA tourney competition. We lost to FAU. We lost a preseason game to EIU. In our 30 losses, 17 have been by single digits, 24 by 10 or fewer points. TWENTY FOUR OF 30.
We have also, signed a Mr. Basketball, 2 five-stars, and three other 4 stars, 5 state champions, the #1 JUCO PG, a top 5th year transfer, and have had 24 players wear our uniform (19 are/were underclassmen)

It’s a process. We have an extremely young team the past 2 years. We have had back-to-back-to-back years of roster turnover. Only 5 guys have been in the system for multiple years, one being TU.

2019-20: Lose a Center who is playing this season on a bum knee, lose an undersized unathletic SG who has made 1 three in his last 3 games. Bring in a 5-star center, a top 100 forward/center, return a 5-star combo-guard, return a proven double-digit scorer in TF, return a diamond in the rough, dare I say proven scorer in Georgi? Have the ability to add more athletes/wings/shooters to our class.

It sucks losing right now, but there is a plan set. A core of Ayo-Trent-Kipper/TBD,Georgi,Kofi is really nice. Have guys like Jones, Griffin, Damonte, Samba, January, Feliz coming off your bench all of a sudden you’re long, athletic and much deeper w/ guys that know the system.

#WeWillWin
 
#40      

Steelyunk

Tobacco Road
Its pretty simple - 1) they played a #2 team and score 15 points above that team's average for teams they play. 2) Giorgi's inside play was very good considering the competition, and 3) Ayo scored 19 in the first half. 4) we actually got more than a few passes to the rim for baskets. 5) More than a few blocks at the backboard.

Yes we made dumb young team stupid plays (usually at the moment of closing the gap) and missed some bunnies. Its frustrating but did you expect a 10 point win tonight?

Sorry, you can't run the team down, and then say "Oh, well Michigan didn't play well". Most seemed to play close to their averages and Simmons had a season high as I recall. Give some credit to the boys when due - they had something to do with Michigan not playing well.
I agree with this. The team has been frustrating all year but I saw great effort from two key froshmen and good enough play from role players. Trent will come around. Add experience for other frosh and the two monsters we have coming in and it’s a team i can get excited about... eventually. This was NOT the FAU performance... now about the coach... still much less excited than I was last year.
 
#41      

Deleted member 29907

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I hate to say it but Kipper seemed rather distant coming out of one particular timeout and the coach speak? Also I think this team is Ayo officially now. Trent is in a funk and Ayo is stepping up B1G!
Kipper needs to suck it up - this is P5 basketball not rec league where mom and dad can pat your bottom when things aren't going well. We need to get TJ up to speed ASAP and let KN sit a bit to get some perspective. Trent might benefit from not starting a game to get a bit of the bug back.
 
#42      

Deleted member 29907

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I agree with this. The team has been frustrating all year but I saw great effort from two key froshmen and good enough play from role players. Trent will come around. Add experience for other frosh and the two monsters we have coming in and it’s a team i can get excited about... eventually. This was NOT the FAU performance... now about the coach... still much less excited than I was last year.
I didn't have as much of a problem with BU this game but have not been a huge fan this season. The problem is we are relying on 2 FR and 1 SO as our lead scorers this season and so we will ebb and flow with that reliance. Our help D seems to be getting better, but boy would I like to see more off ball cuts to the basket much like Charles Mathews did yesterday. Ayo is pretty much the only guard who looks to make that pass and so far, only AG (and possibly KN) is the only player to make that cut.

We're not getting enough production out of AJ right now, but a good part of that is our guards not making skip passes when weak side defenses collapse on our bigs.
 
#43      
Thought the improvement of Ayo over Smith, and Georgi over Finke would be enough to make middle of the pack. Kipper hasn't been what I expected. Maybe next year at the three because with Kofi, Georgi, Ayo, and Trent we have some talent otherwise. Hope to see some coaching adaptation also to utilize the combination of K and G. Should do a lot to solve our rebounding problem.
 
#44      
Since I'm a glass half full guy my take on the game is this: we spotted them an 11 point lead in the first few minutes of the game, and then played them even the rest of the way. That's not too shabby. We were getting some pretty good looks on the offensive end all night long against one of the best defensive teams in the country. That's not too shabby. We need to get our outside shots falling and we need to quit making dumb plays at the worst times. It's really quite maddening. I think it's time to start beating some teams. Let's get this thing started.
 
#46      
I hate to say it but Kipper seemed rather distant coming out of one particular timeout and the coach speak? Also I think this team is Ayo officially now. Trent is in a funk and Ayo is stepping up B1G!
Frazier is the one player that other teams really concentrate on, so it’s no wonder he will have struggles. Ayo and Frazier need to learn to play off each other.
 
#47      
The opposing team’s shot chart after every game tells it all. Giving up layups and dunks = losses. Maybe we can hire a defensive coordinator?
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#48      
With a potential logjam of wings (already have Tevian, Alan, Kipper) to play the 3 and 4 spots next year, and if the staff wants to add two more wings like some have said here, that would make 5 players fighting for playing time at two spots. I don't know why two more players, Archie and someone else similar, would join. I don't know how the staff will sell playing time.
If someone like Patterson or K. Walker joined who might be considered a one and done, that could further deter Archie. Unless he is fine with a "sit-out" type of year.
On the other hand, if Archie jumps to take a spot, might that discourage others such as Patterson, Walker, or even Brown?

We're 4-12 and you're over here talking about having too many quality players.
 
#50      

Deleted member 746094

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The opposing team’s shot chart after every game tells it all. Giving up layups and dunks = losses. Maybe we can hire a defensive coordinator?
View attachment 4006

The shot chart doesn’t tell it all. We lack size, depth and experience across our roster. Admittedly, we give up more lay-ups and dunks than I would like. So if we were to pack the lane and they were to shoot 45% from 3pt people would complain about that.

What that chart tells me is what has been widely known and that is we lack a true rim protector. BU has addressed that with the additions of Kofi, January and hopefully the development of Samba. This should also sure up our defensive rebounding.