Ohio State 71, Illinois 63 POSTGAME

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#126      
Do you not remember where this team was prior to Trent becoming the lead PG on the team? Trent's shooting is suffering yes, but he leads, he gets the offense going and it allows Ayo to be placed in more successful situations as an off guard PG if you will.

not to mention he guards the other teams fastest PG/SG often and is chasing them all over the place and fighting over screens. His legs are DEAD guarding guys like cowan/winston/walker.
 
#129      
Relying too much on a small lineup? GB having three fouls and Kofi having two at the 10 minute mark of the first half is going to cause that. We have no depth in our frontcourt. BU had three options: 1)Go small, 2)roll with Hamlin for extended minutes or 3)Put both back in early and have them play wary of the fact that they couldn't be aggressive.

With a team that shoots the three very poorly, it's pick your poison. OSU took advantage of the foul situation and took us apart on the interior. Happens.
Could Tevien been an option? Is he hurt or something?
 
#130      
Classy guys. From coach refusing to blame the stripes. Ayo a consummate all B1G performer and clearly a team leader and then an all time glue guy and a guy who plays tough In Dre.

They have brought the Illini back...together with all the teammates.
 
#132      
Thought we played fine the first half. OSU adjusted to sell out on Ayo and we missed some open looks in crunch time.

So my first though was: they probably out-shot us, we missed too many looks. But our FG% was actually quite a bit higher — we made 24 of 55 (6 treys) they made 22 of 57 (3 treys). That puts us up 7. So where’d they find their other 15 points?

24 makes on 28 free throws to our 9 on 10. They shot 1 free throw for every 2 field goal attempts they took — that’s our worst performance of the year in terms of opponent’s Free Throw Rate (FTA/FGA) at 49%. The next highest was 43% at Wisconsin (actually, our worst 7 are all on the road).

So that’s where the points came from. The other question is — why did they have so many opportunities to get to the line? If you count 2 FTs as a possession (or a bit less for and-1s), they had 70 offensive possessions to our 60. Where’d those extra 10 come from?

As others have pointed out, rebounding was the killer in this regard. OSU grabbed 16 of 38 misses, or 42% — also a season worst for our D. We grabbed 9. So there’s 7 of the 10 extra chances. The other three came from 14 turnovers to our 11 — one of our highest turnover rates in 2020 but not as noteworthy as the rebounding.

Obviously in the run of play you can’t just slice and dice like this, but IMO the statistical story tonight is still informative:
  • We gave OSU 10 extra chances to score
  • Those 10 extra chances turned into 15 extra made FTs
  • Those 15 extra points more than made up for our being 7 points more efficient otherwise.
Oh well. Good opportunity for BU and the guys to scheme against defenses selling out to stop Ayo. And on to some sweet sweet revenge over Iowa!
Well put. You can’t get any more objective than that.
 
#133      
So does this mean we have to wait another 15 years to compete for a BIG championship?? I hope not, I'm running out of 15 year periods.
 
#134      
Ok. Killing us is harsh. But his inability to make open shots has hurt us in multiple game’s this year. His defense is certainly needed.

Again, if he’s going to start and be on the floor he needs to focus on play making or make his open shots. Trent, Feliz and DMW don’t offer enough spacing to let Kofi and Ayo do their thing.
Tent is expending a lot of energy on defense. It’s late in the year and he’s probably worn out. Shooters need their legs.
 
#135      
My award for Richard of the night goes to tOSU AD Gene Smith and his trotting out at halftime, 6th man scrub Matt Sylvester from 2005 to dance on our grave. Was that necessary, Gene??
 
#136      
Im a big Tevian fan but from what I've seen this year his offseason wasn't what Damonte or AJ had. AJ and Ayo look much stronger than ladt year, Tev seems about the same. Add the 14 game suspension over two years abd he isn't where he should be. I hope he sticks around but has the same commitment of other players to stay on the court.

I've seen footage of Grandison and Hutcherson, they seem very solid players. I think a 9 man rotation is a must when you consider alk the players who are going to fight for playing time.
 
#137      
Could Tevien been an option? Is he hurt or something?
None of us are privy to what goes on in practice or of any interactions with BU and TJ, but it's painfully obvious that currently, TJ isn't meeting BU's expectations....whether that be conduct, defensive effort, his ability to grasp concepts....who knows.

There have been some games where we're in desperation mode due to foul trouble (last night), suspension (AG) or injury(Ayo) and TJ never gets the warmups off.

I'm not sure where TJ fits in the grand scheme of things. I hope he finds a roll with this group and the light goes on.
 
#139      

Tacomallini

Washington State
So does this mean we have to wait another 15 years to compete for a BIG championship?? I hope not, I'm running out of 15 year periods.
Hopefully not, but did you expect this year’s team to be in the running during the last week of the season? I sure didn’t. [queue eerily accurate preseason prediction post that I’m far too lazy to go back and look for]
Here’s to your longevity and many more B1G championships for the Illini
 
#140      
Tough game, tough place to win, move on to the next one. We had a little fools gold in the first half with a couple of Ayo bailouts and some DMW treys. Wasn't feeling great about things because nobody else was involved. That played out fiercely in the final 20.

Liddell definitely the difference. Our bigs got pushed around.
Game was controlled by the officials from the getgo not looking at amount of fouls or free throws just officials controlling this game worst games to watch imho road teams have no chance in these kinds of games
 
#141      
And why do think that is? Yeah, Illini could really use his offense. He is NOT killing the Illini. His defense has been very good. And NO you do not replace him in starting line-up with , Griffin.
Why not try frazier as a 6th man right now? Why keep throwing a guy out there that isn't feeling it. When ur in a slump you try something new. Not saying u only give him 20 minutes, im just stating why not bring him off the bench to maybe take some pressure off. He literally has a 10.9 PER which is awful. Yes his defense has been decent but its a little overblown at this point. People are hyping up that side of the ball because of how poor his offense has been.
 
#142      

mattcoldagelli

The Transfer Portal
Simply put, the way our team is built, we will probably lose every game that has a foul trouble + losing the rebounding battle + Trent/Al missing open 3s combo.

Which is ok. Those things usually don't all happen simultaneously.
 
#143      
"killing us right now"???

We just got off a four game winning streak and lost on the road to a top 20 team. There's no "killing us right now" by anyone on the team.

As to Ayo's "evolution" many of us feel it's because of Trent's play with the ball.
In our last 7 loses he has averages 7-2-2 on 22% shooting (14/61) and 21% from three (9/41). Take those stats with a grain of salt cause of his defense but his 10.9 PER and 22% have lost us games no denying that. He's been a great player but isn't no longer so you have to take the new information and use it. During the win streak he averaged 7-3-2 was 9-37 (24%) and 4-20 (20%) from three. Lets not act like he played well during the win streak. Try him as a spark plug off the bench till he gains some confidence back.
 
#144      
This is the best Illini team in more than a decade. We will be just fine. It's always hard to play on the road. I am concerned about the 3 point shooting.
 
#145      
In our last 7 loses he has averages 7-2-2 on 22% shooting (14/61) and 21% from three (9/41). Take those stats with a grain of salt cause of his defense but his 10.9 PER and 22% have lost us games no denying that. He's been a great player but isn't no longer so you have to take the new information and use it. During the win streak he averaged 7-3-2 was 9-37 (24%) and 4-20 (20%) from three. Lets not act like he played well during the win streak. Try him as a spark plug off the bench till he gains some confidence back.
My last post on this. I am tired of everyone piling on Trent. Yes he has been off, but as someone pointed out earlier, a third of his shots, maybe more, are at the end of the shot clock. If Ayo is getting shut down on the drive, he dishes to Trent who has to throw it up. Now yes, he is missing good looks too, but those statistics are not painting an accurate picture. If people insist on blaming someone, it's clearly Giorgi and that position. I go to the games and he has, IMO, cost this team a couple of games this year. Last night, 4 fouls, ZERO rebounds, and 2 points off a great pass from Ayo which resulted in a layup. He has been missing layups all year, his defense is best described as swiss cheese, he gets in the way of Ayo and Felix on offense often, and he has missed critical free throws this year. Unfortunately, you have to give him minutes. His lack of production is wearing on Kofi too. Kofi is having to play more minutes and I thought he looked tired last night-he is a freshman after all and he has played 30 games against some great big men every game. So yes, Trent is not helping from the perimeter right now. But that isn't what is "killing the team" as several have tried to point out.
 
#146      
Could Tevien been an option? Is he hurt or something?

Here we go again....or something!

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#147      
At the beginning of the Big Ten season, I had a hard time finding 8 wins. If, before the Md game you told me we would be shooting 30% or less from 3 for the season, I'm not sure I could have found 5 wins for the year, let alone be in the title race in the last week of the season.
 
#148      
Why not try frazier as a 6th man right now?

Because he is by far our BEST option at lead PG...his defense is not overblown, he plays the other lead guard (usually one of the best players on the opposing team) each game. Was his defense good last night overall, not really, but it has been exceptional all year...AND he is looked to be a potentially valid last second bail out player on offense at times with weary legs from defense. Oh yea no one else can do what he is doing, including Ayo who we were trying at the beginning of the year...we were not very good then remember.
 
#150      
Because he is by far our BEST option at lead PG...his defense is not overblown, he plays the other lead guard (usually one of the best players on the opposing team) each game. Was his defense good last night overall, not really, but it has been exceptional all year...AND he is looked to be a potentially valid last second bail out player on offense at times with weary legs from defense. Oh yea no one else can do what he is doing, including Ayo who we were trying at the beginning of the year...we were not very good then remember.
Read the post. I said don't reduce his minutes just give him a mental re-set. He's a solid defender but psychical guards still give him problems, shooters don't. See (Kobe king, spencer, last night and geo baker. I'm not trying to bash trent you just have to look at this season and not past.
 
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