We had several players have a solid games tonight and still barely hung on.Scary thought but I'll take it 
Illinois 75, Ohio State 70 POSTGAME
illinoisfan11
- Peoria, IL
Big win. Could have folded when they gave up the lead but showed some toughness and pride and got it done. Well done boys!
Hey that's OK. I've missed on Kipper HUGE!! Thought we would see him at least defensively.
No real reason we shouldn't have. DJW and KN are the perfect guys versus a team full of wings. DJW showed good decision making ability today. Consistently fed the post in good position. Coach still likes playing JT and TA together for more than a couple minutes each half.
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
The force is strong with this fan. . .On New Year's Day only. My last game involved Indiana and a little layup by Tyler
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Saturday trends can turn into Sunday treasures.
Might have if he'd been available from day 1. He'll definitely be needed next year because I don't see any other obviously good defenders on next year's team.
I don't get how people are so upset by this game. If you thought it was going to be an easy 15 pt win you are a bit insane. The line was 1.5 and the predictive models had it as almost a pick'em. While it doesn't exactly catapult the team to where everyone wants them to be it helps with the difficult stretch of games they have to start the B1G season....
I also have no idea what Groce was thinking on the Finke/Black subs in the last minute. Don't think the slightly better shooting of Finke makes up for the defensive rebounding of Black. I doubt that is a jumpball if Black is in there. Tracy is a guy you absolutely count on to take those free throws though if you can't get it to Hill.
I think Groce may have finally figured out the best line up is Abrams, JCL, Hill, Black, and Morgan. They were getting a good bit of the tick from about 3 minutes on in. Those five should be on the court for no less than 15 minutes per game together. I don't think I would ever go below three out of the five on the court either. The team gets in trouble and give up runs when less of them are out there. As much as I dislike Tate he had a pretty solid game today.
I also have no idea what Groce was thinking on the Finke/Black subs in the last minute. Don't think the slightly better shooting of Finke makes up for the defensive rebounding of Black. I doubt that is a jumpball if Black is in there. Tracy is a guy you absolutely count on to take those free throws though if you can't get it to Hill.
I think Groce may have finally figured out the best line up is Abrams, JCL, Hill, Black, and Morgan. They were getting a good bit of the tick from about 3 minutes on in. Those five should be on the court for no less than 15 minutes per game together. I don't think I would ever go below three out of the five on the court either. The team gets in trouble and give up runs when less of them are out there. As much as I dislike Tate he had a pretty solid game today.
Illini1221
Peru,IL
This. Anybody expecting us to blowout big ten teams are going to be very disappointed.
Illini are fortunate Ohio State was so inept in first half. Lyle was Jekyll and Hyde. Jekyll is pretty good.
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
Good post. Agree with all of this
illinimike
- Wheaton, IL
I wish I could have watched the game. Good to see a win.
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
I thought that everyone who played made a contribution except maybe Thorne. That makes a big difference when you get something from every player. AJ and DJW didn't do so much other than provide energy, but that is a positive. Good team win
Deleted member 29907
D
Guest
Good win - but the number of times we don't pass to someone wide (or suddenly) open down low just boggles my mind. Even the crowd groaned on a few of those.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Good to see a bounce back win. So far, despite our couple of blowout losses we are holding serve right now from the perspective of a Tourney committee. We are even, with one bad L (Winthrop) and one "Good" win (BYU because it was technically a neutral game). That's a -1 and a +1 so we are at 0. Keep it positive or at least not negative and we'll be dancing in March. :thumb:
A Big win is always a good win. Just look at the results around the league. No game is guaranteed. Nice win! I-L-L-
Good to see Finke hit some 3s we need that from him.
Thought we looked pretty decent in the 1st half, pretty mediocre in the 2nd. Glad to get the win. Keep building
Good win and much better than a loss. Pretty decent stats with only 9 TOs and outrebounding OSU by 7 boards. Appeared Thorne just couldn't get anything going and was blocked a lot, thus only 8 minutes playing time. Illini still allowed too many layups, one of their Achilles heels this year.
http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.c...nts/2017/1/1/GM15_Illinois_Ohio_State_Box.pdf
http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.c...nts/2017/1/1/GM15_Illinois_Ohio_State_Box.pdf
Can I watch the replay on BTN2Go yet?
Tonight was fun to watch. seems like they fought the whole game. Lots of good things, some not so good like every team in America but they were fun to root for. Obviously winning is the main thing but I appreciated how hard they played and it was fun to have them be the team I was rooting for tonight. Haven't always been able to say that. Going d win guys......