Pregame: Illinois at Maryland, Tuesday, December 27th, 4:00pm CT, ESPN2

[blmillini]

My guess is that Melo Trimble will single handedly beat us in this game. We just can't seem to stop anyone with ball handling skills and quickness.

I was really hoping this team would come out and prove me wrong regarding my preseason predictions but so far they are pretty much spot on. I originally had them losing the next 7 games so in my mind these are the critical contests that will determine everything for this season, and maybe Groce's Illini coaching career.

 

[ntsillinifan]

We need Morgan and Finke to play well in this one. Hopefully both have their slump out of the way and will be strong heading into conference play.

 

[SescIllini]

I've seen Maryland against Charlotte and a couple other teams. I don't see the overly athletic team that has given us problems. I see a team that is beatable if we play a solid game with few lapses. If you look at the stats you see that Trimble is their main scorer with two others providing double digits. Then there is a big drop off. Maryland is not a good 3 pt shooting team and averaging rebounding team.

I think the plan is stop Melo, I'm not sure who the best player to do this. Is it a combination of Tracy and JCL or think out of the box and just go big (DJW and Kipper for spurts). I think if we move the ball around, get multiple players from different positions involved we can give Maryland problems. I like to see more DJW throughout this game. The more I see him the more I see how he provides flexibility to our team on both ends of the court. Like to see more of DJ and Hill on the court at the same time, especially Hill as the SG.

 

[FiveStar]

Maryland is not a good 3 pt shooting team and averaging rebounding team.

Based on this and what the fan said (happy we don't play zone), I hope we mix in a ton of zone against them.

I'd also like to see some 2-2-1 into a 2-3 to slow down Trimble in transition and force him to work against a set defense with a short shot clock. We'd really only have to guard like 1 action and then a pick and roll. For the same reasons I'd also love to see us switch defenses mid-possession, man to zone after a couple passes or vice versa. Since we have so much trouble on defense we need to all we can to keep the other team off balance.

Last year before all the injuries, we also showed a no trapping, patient, long, high 1-3-1 at times. I'd really like to see us mix that in again too.

 

[riffraff]

Good article on Abrams. Love this young man's attitude.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/for-sixth-year-illini-tracy-abrams-its-a-fight-to-the-finish/

 

[ntsillinifan]

Good article on Abrams. Love this young man's attitude.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/for-sixth-year-illini-tracy-abrams-its-a-fight-to-the-finish/

Great article. Thanks for the link.

 

[blmillini]

I've seen Maryland against Charlotte and a couple other teams. I don't see the overly athletic team that has given us problems. I see a team that is beatable if we play a solid game with few lapses. If you look at the stats you see that Trimble is their main scorer with two others providing double digits. Then there is a big drop off. Maryland is not a good 3 pt shooting team and averaging rebounding team.

I think the plan is stop Melo, I'm not sure who the best player to do this. Is it a combination of Tracy and JCL or think out of the box and just go big (DJW and Kipper for spurts). I think if we move the ball around, get multiple players from different positions involved we can give Maryland problems. I like to see more DJW throughout this game. The more I see him the more I see how he provides flexibility to our team on both ends of the court. Like to see more of DJ and Hill on the court at the same time, especially Hill as the SG.

I think you need Abrams to take Melo out of the game. The problem with doing that is it probably takes away Abrams offensive game. And, you need to hope he doesn't get into foul trouble. I don't think we have anyone else that can guard him. Maybe some box and one or triangle and two for this game.

 

[ntsillinifan]

I think you need Abrams to take Melo out of the game. The problem with doing that is it probably takes away Abrams offensive game. And, you need to hope he doesn't get into foul trouble. I don't think we have anyone else that can guard him. Maybe some box and one or triangle and two for this game.

I was just thinking the same thing earlier. Do you remember Groce teams running this defense recently? If they're that young and beat up right now, it's probably worth a try.

 

[FiveStar]

I was just thinking the same thing earlier. Do you remember Groce teams running this defense recently? If they're that young and beat up right now, it's probably worth a try.

I can't remember any Groce or college teams in general doing this. There is no way I can see this being effective at the division 1 level. We could bring Clayton Jones off the end of our bench right now vs a box and 1 and he'd hit enough 3s to be effective against it. Not to mention huge gaps for drivers. In terms of our team, no way Thorne, Morgan or Finke can cover the baseline area needed to do it. We'd be asking them to close out from the rim to the corner on the flight of the ball. It's blowby city against our guards, can't even imagine what it would be like with those guys closing.

 

[Bear8287]

I can tell you that over the same 7 games, we'd have about a .02% chance of going 7-0.

So you're telling me there's a chance.

 

[Bear8287]

I think beating Maryland would be a big statement for Illinois and would give me hope they are a .500 or above Big Ten team (and a likely tournament team).

.500 in the B1G this year != (not equal) NCAA tournament team. It's not clear that 10-8 is a lock either. Lunardi currently projects 7 B1G teams into the tourney and none of those teams are Illinois. Joe also does not have Maryland on his list. WVU, FSU and Winthrop (#15 seed) are though and the Illini have lost to all of them. The Illini are winless against Top25 teams at the moment and may only get 3 chances in the B1G this year at Top25 teams. Definitely a down year for B1G MBB.

 

[Bear8287]

Realized that after I posted. Either way, it's typically role players that go off on us, besides Keon who was the last superstar player that had a career game against us?

Groce is 1-6 against Matta at tOSU and is currently riding a 6 game losing streak to tOSU.

 

[Newman]

.500 in the B1G this year != (not equal) NCAA tournament team. It's not clear that 10-8 is a lock either. Lunardi currently projects 7 B1G teams into the tourney and none of those teams are Illinois. Joe also does not have Maryland on his list. WVU, FSU and Winthrop (#15 seed) are though and the Illini have lost to all of them. The Illini are winless against Top25 teams at the moment and may only get 3 chances in the B1G this year at Top25 teams. Definitely a down year for B1G MBB.

He has 9 B1G teams in and although Illinois isn't currently one of them (Maryland is), it shows that the conference is deeper than past years although not necessarily full of elite teams. 10-8 would get them in and I would bet that 9-9 would get them in depending on who they beat. This whole down year in the B1G is complete nonsense. There's even a chance that there won't be even a sub 100 team in the conference.

If we beat Maryland, that'll be 4 wins against possible tourney teams. That's pretty good heading into the tough stretch of conference play.

 

[blmillini]

He has 9 B1G teams in and although Illinois isn't currently one of them (Maryland is), it shows that the conference is deeper than past years although not necessarily full of elite teams. 10-8 would get them in and I would bet that 9-9 would get them in depending on who they beat. This whole down year in the B1G is complete nonsense. There's even a chance that there won't be even a sub 100 team in the conference.

If we beat Maryland, that'll be 4 wins against possible tourney teams. That's pretty good heading into the tough stretch of conference play.

I think the conference is stronger top to bottom than it has ever been but it is weaker at the top.

 

[ChiefIllini]

Groce is 1-6 against Matta at tOSU and is currently riding a 6 game losing streak to tOSU.

Hes come extremely close a couple times. Not to mention this is probably the best Illini team for most of those losses and the worst tOSU team as well.

 

[WesterveltVictoryCigar]

.500 in the B1G this year != (not equal) NCAA tournament team. It's not clear that 10-8 is a lock either. Lunardi currently projects 7 B1G teams into the tourney and none of those teams are Illinois. Joe also does not have Maryland on his list. WVU, FSU and Winthrop (#15 seed) are though and the Illini have lost to all of them. The Illini are winless against Top25 teams at the moment and may only get 3 chances in the B1G this year at Top25 teams. Definitely a down year for B1G MBB.

Top 25 wins really isn't a metric that is used. We'll have plenty of chances at top 50 and top 100 wins in the conference, just have to get our share of those and avoid losses to Rutgers/PSU/Nebraska.

Lunardi uses BPI so you have to keep that in mind. No one else uses it, certainly not the committee.

 

[EfremWinters84]

I just noticed that the Terps' top three wins are all by 1 point. Not very convincing. And they play a few too many Freshmen. Confidence level increasing......

 

[Dan]

Game Notes

ESPN2: Mark Jones and Dan Dakich

http://www.fightingillini.com/news/2016/12/25/mens-basketball-illinois-game-notes-at-maryland.aspx

 

[TCTORNADO]

Illinois +3.5

 

[TriCityBurbs]

Maryland is the 26th team in the AP top 25 with 40 votes....Minnesota and Northwestern also receiving some votes.

 

[Dan]

Groce previews Maryland

[youtube]7yQX0moGe0o[/youtube]

Groce: Maryland plays two PGs together. Great in transition. Put pressure on your defense. Get to the FT line.

Groce: Played strong schedule in nonconference. Different styles & strengths. Helped prepare us for B1G.

Groce: We wanted our strength of schedule to be very difficult. It worked out that way.

Groce: Played against some really good players. Think we're a better team from it. Hope it helps tomorrow night & beyond that.

Groce: We're going to play 9-plus. That's just who we are right now. Everyone has to be ready. Guys off bench have played well.

Groce: Blend of turnover issues. Think we're better than earlier in the year but still have to improve.

https://twitter.com/DPiperScout

 

[Ga65]

My guess is that Melo Trimble will single handedly beat us in this game. We just can't seem to stop anyone with ball handling skills and quickness.

I was really hoping this team would come out and prove me wrong regarding my preseason predictions but so far they are pretty much spot on. I originally had them losing the next 7 games so in my mind these are the critical contests that will determine everything for this season, and maybe Groce's Illini coaching career.

Guarding Trimble and similar players is what I hoped Kipper was being groomed to guard. A defensive stopper would convert this team from good to very good. We need the defense, offense is good enough to win even in the BIG.

 

[TCTORNADO]

"We are going to play 9-plus"!!!

 

[Illinimobile]

I agree. We are a small underdog. Its a great measuring stick. And much of the spread is the home court advantage, which will probably feel more like "semi-home" given the break.
So, I would say we're about a 2 point dog. That's manageable, but it still has to be done.

I agree that this is a winnable game, but College Park ain't Champaign. Xfinity Center has it's own stop on the DC Metro and the bulk of the student body probably lives within an hour or so drive, so not on campus doesn't mean they aren't nearby.

There's also this: http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=29700&ATCLID=211007532

I expect a near sellout for their B1G opener.

 

[TriCityBurbs]

Need Mav and Thorne to continue their strong play tomorrow. We are the biggest and most physical team Matyland has seen this year and they are playing without their starting center. If Finke can hit a few shots, and Savage can stay out of foul trouble, I think we have a real good shot at stealing this one and getting a great road win to boost our resume drastically.