They played great, we played mediocre at best.
The bed doesn’t crap itself.
The bed doesn’t crap itself.
Maryland 66, Illinois 63 Postgame
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
I don't put much stock into this game. Sometimes guys have bad games. Sometimes lots of guys have bad games. Sometimes your team has an off night. It stings because it's not the norm for this team. It's not good, but I won't worry unless it happens again. A full season is full of ups and downs.
Never seen a team be as up and down as Illinois. It’s inexplicable and not a good omen for the NCAA tourney. You gotta be consistent to advance far.
Down 15 at half to NW
Outscore NW by 40 in 2nd half
Get down 15 to Penn State.
Outscore PSU by 32 rest of game.
Give up a 20-0 run to Purdue. Still win by 15.
Dominate Duke.
Lose to Mizzou.
Lose to Rutgers.
Dominate Minnesota.
Lose to Maryland.
Maybe it’s losing focus with no fans in the stands? I don’t know
Down 15 at half to NW
Outscore NW by 40 in 2nd half
Get down 15 to Penn State.
Outscore PSU by 32 rest of game.
Give up a 20-0 run to Purdue. Still win by 15.
Dominate Duke.
Lose to Mizzou.
Lose to Rutgers.
Dominate Minnesota.
Lose to Maryland.
Maybe it’s losing focus with no fans in the stands? I don’t know
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
I'm going to look at this glass half full. We needed this loss. We should be more motivated now to go back into practice and keep working on entry passes, Kofi passing out of doubles, and reposting. If Kofi isn't touching the ball on half of our possessions when he's in the game, we're doing something wrong. But we also need Kofi to learn how to pass back out. More movement on offense would really help our team take the next step.
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Spot on. We struggle against length.
Yup. I was concerned that the foul count was not getting forced up. I think that they ended at 4? I guess five, remembering DMFW's shots.
If there was strategic thinking by our coaches and players in the second half, it went over my head. Not every possession from the 8-minute mark on should be forced and desperate. Yeah, they scored and even took the lead, but they were lucky not to get beaten by 10. The coaches need to manage their stars (read: Ayo) better and not be afraid to put him on the bench to breathe and watch and be coached for a minute. He was far from his best on both ends, so why set him up for failure?
You seem to miss the point that Trent and DMFW can't get good lucks against teams with everyone over 6' 5". They are overmatched. They both play good defense but do not have the ability to get open. In the second half the same can be said about Adam Miller.
No, hold up. Belo had a bad game. Not a horrible game, but a very bad game.
DMFW could have shot it, sure. But he recognized that he could draw a foul (and did so!) with a good chance at tying the score. That was his attempt at salvaging the game. It is reasonable for him to expect to make one or both of them, and if he had, your argument would not exist.
So, DMFW didn't tie/win the game with his free throws. But he didn't lose possession after possession like Belo's handling and misses and fouls did. Neither guy won the game. Which is probably why both contributed to a losing effort.
Giving much credit to the Terps who played almost the entire game on the right side of their bell curve. Our guys actually played OK most of the game, slightly below avg., but with three Illini frosh being depended upon so much, the team was due for a fold in the clutch when pressured, and the Terps did just that. No Illini fan expected them to hit shots consistently, but they did. No Illini fan expected them to disrupt shooters and scorers as the game wound to :0:00, but they did. Their quality of play and coaching was better tonight....period. I am as disappointed as anyone....but no one stuffed the ballot box...we got beat and that fact is not disputable.
Ayo was mind-boggling at times. Kofi proved again he needs a lot of work on the concept of catching and passing. Georgi started to hurry and throw his shot again for some reason after shooting so well recently. Miller hit some shots, but as someone mentioned, a floater would be great for his game. Hate to see Trent injured, we need him. And DMFW disappointed for the first time by missing two big free throws in the final minute...I felt he was automatic. His cape must have been at the cleaners. This team is a long way from good enough to win 6 games in April but it would sure be nice to see them beat somebody good on the road like Michigan or Wisconsin or even Iowa at home. Don't see it happening with this starting lineup.
Curbelo has talents that are much needed but also has growing up that is much needed. He will...maybe not soon enough.
201154JC
- Rockford, IL
You are spot on. If the opposition guards the three point line well and we refuse to feed our big man, our offense becomes one dimensional. Ayo.
Maryland played great defense...and limited our normal scoring and driving options. We did not adjust and we lost poise at the end...played a little hero ball down stretch.
We must learn from this, else we will repeat this situation in future games. Like MSU to Purdue on Friday...we gave one up at home, that we should have finished/won.
We must learn from this, else we will repeat this situation in future games. Like MSU to Purdue on Friday...we gave one up at home, that we should have finished/won.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Morsell scores 19 as Maryland upsets Illinois
Last-second shot to try to tie just misses.
Agree with everything you said. Spot on!
Unacceptable.
I like Curbelo, but he is starting to act like the unruly kid at school. You let him get away with a few things without it being addressed, he thinks it is acceptable. It then becomes a habit and they start doing more and more stuff that will be deemed unacceptable by normal standards (loyalty message board).
He is a distributor...then end. If he breaks down the defense for a layup, great. Nothing more, nothing less
To me the key to the game was the final 3 minutes....I believe we were up 2 and needed a couple of stops defensively, which we got, but then we went down and either turned the ball over or didn't get a good shot....as a team you need to realize that at that point in the game you need to value the ball a little more...especially after you've made a defensive stand and have the opportunity to extend your lead and put the game out of reach....but we didn't value the ball our last 5-6 possessions....didn't get good looks....we're a good team....a great team would have nailed the coffin shut during those 5-6 possessions and found a way to win by 6-8 points
illini80
- Forgottonia
I don’t think it’s effort or ability. It’s focus. We play hard but there is a huge difference when we are locked in and focused. It’s up to the team leaders to take charge of that and correct it. BU said the practices weren’t good. That’s focus. It’s mental. I love this team and the talent we have. Let’s hope the leadership is there to create the toughness and focus we had at the end of last year.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
The 3 pter by Scott at the end of the first half started the worm turning in their favor, imho....We stopped feeding Kofi, who had 16 pts in the first half, and that turned it into a perimeter game that was dominated by Curbelo drives and poor shot selection.
it seemed to me that both teams were trying to give the game away and the dagger was the tipped out rebound that Kofi could have snagged but ended up being the Hart 3 pter...If you replayed that shot it was close to going over the basket but caught just enough rim to swirl around and go down , just like our chances to win..
The 2 missed FTs by DMW hurt but when he was out of the game was when we struggled a lot on D......I have been very critical of DMW in the past but he didn't lose this game....Our lack of adjustments to the double teams on Kofi and very poor decisions on shot selection doomed us to a very damaging home court B1G loss....this will either be a wake up call or worse a forecast of the rest of the season....
A loss to Nebby will take us out of contention for the B1G trophy and a much lower seed for the dance...
it seemed to me that both teams were trying to give the game away and the dagger was the tipped out rebound that Kofi could have snagged but ended up being the Hart 3 pter...If you replayed that shot it was close to going over the basket but caught just enough rim to swirl around and go down , just like our chances to win..
The 2 missed FTs by DMW hurt but when he was out of the game was when we struggled a lot on D......I have been very critical of DMW in the past but he didn't lose this game....Our lack of adjustments to the double teams on Kofi and very poor decisions on shot selection doomed us to a very damaging home court B1G loss....this will either be a wake up call or worse a forecast of the rest of the season....
A loss to Nebby will take us out of contention for the B1G trophy and a much lower seed for the dance...
I think you are spot on...my memory was under 5 min. up 3, went down 3 times and didn't score, 2 of those times didn't get a shot off. Game on the line and didn't value the basketball. Might have been a good time for Brad to call a T.O. That said, when Brad did call a T.O. late (minute or so to go), Curbelo took the shot coming out of the T.O, which couldn't have been the play call I would assume. I like Curbelo, but my eye test is telling me he needs to be sat down after he pulls some of his crazy stuff. I mean, he made that fall away on the baseline, but it was a terrible shot that happens to go in. Despite his highlight caliber passes, he has too much high school in his game and good teams will continue to take advantage of that fact. Of course, the calculus changes if Trent is hurt.
Deleted member 4892
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We are a very bad FT shooting team. That will continue to bite us.
We got outscored 10-4 going down the stretch (last 7:28 of game). The knock on Curbelo coming out of Long Island Lutheran is he could not shoot. His 3 point shot is flat out ugly. Finally, teams have figured out Ayo can't go left and play him accordingly. Hands down the most and best talented team in the BIG, but clearly not the best team.
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Deleted member 747671
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Haven't read the whole thread yet and probably won't. Last night was extra rough considering my family is also big Steelers fans. Thought the Illini would at least balance me out, instead a double gut punch.
I don't really have any analysis to add, just trying to figure out what exactly we are. We're just very inconsistent, but we have 2 amazing players so we're capable of anything. We clearly can beat any (and I mean ANY) team when we're on. We can also lose to pretty much any team that isn't absolutely dreadful when we're off (rough outings against Ohio, Purdue's run, NW 1st half). I think we're clearly a top 25 team, probably top 20. It's weird when it's us, but I feel like we're that classic like 3 or 4 seed that everyone is going to call the final 4 "darkhorse." I think we should win enough to get to that 3 or 4 line, and there's still enough season left to get up to a 2. Just a weird night. Hope it's just a hiccup and not a trend.
I don't really have any analysis to add, just trying to figure out what exactly we are. We're just very inconsistent, but we have 2 amazing players so we're capable of anything. We clearly can beat any (and I mean ANY) team when we're on. We can also lose to pretty much any team that isn't absolutely dreadful when we're off (rough outings against Ohio, Purdue's run, NW 1st half). I think we're clearly a top 25 team, probably top 20. It's weird when it's us, but I feel like we're that classic like 3 or 4 seed that everyone is going to call the final 4 "darkhorse." I think we should win enough to get to that 3 or 4 line, and there's still enough season left to get up to a 2. Just a weird night. Hope it's just a hiccup and not a trend.
Bottom line, the recent slow starts (PSU, NW), lack of energy, no urgency on defense, etc. Just finally caught up to them and culminated into a disappointing loss. Hopefully they learn, including staff, and play a hard 40 from now on.....not just 20-25.