Oddly, he is automatic from the free throw line with beautiful form.
Illinois 56, Michigan State 55 Postgame
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I agree 100% here, with Belo feeding him off the pick and roll, I think Payne will be able to excel. He needs to work on his defense and NOT fouling, but he does have that athleticism and length we desperately need. Still a work in progress, but the lack of continuity this year on the roster hasn't helped him.
Love the win and the grittiness on the defensive side, but yikes. I don't have the stomach to watch it again, but my recollection of us on the offensive side over the last 3 or 4 minutes: no points, a couple turnovers, a missed front end. Yes, we won anyway, without two of our best players, but were were one bounce away from a lot of people whining about softness, no leadership, never-gonna-make-the tournament, etc. And the fact that that we got the lucky bounce (I'm not talking about anything in particular, just noting that they missed a lot of wide open looks, and had a ton of completely unforced turnovers in the first half to help us build the lead we had) doesn't change any of what we saw on the offensive end over the last couple minutes. Yep, good enough, and its a win, baby, but oh boy...
sacraig
- The desert
illini80
- Forgottonia
63% on the season.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
I woke up this morning, got my coffee, and pulled up Loyalty to check out the pressers and late-night posts. I saw this and my immediate reaction was: "Are you kidding?! No, Trent; thank you. For believing in the program and showing the tenacity of a lion every game regardless of how beat up you are."
The dude has been priceless in the restoration of our program. If I had a son I would tell him "This is who you need to emulate." I savor every moment I see him on the floor.
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! All of the teams at the top of the standing have had “ugly” and close wins. Not just in the BIG, but in every conference in the country. If you only watch Illini basketball, you might think we are the only team that struggles. Need I remind anyone that The OSU needed overtime against Nebraska? Wisconsin beat Maryland by 1? Michigan State lost to Northwestern at home! We’ve only got 2 BIG losses and in both games we were short handed! I’d put this team up against anyone in the country! At this rate we are going to be a very dangerous 4/5 seed in the Tourney.altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Yep. When I look at the game flow chart below I focus a great deal more on the ~ 30 minutes where there's a large gap between the orange and green lines, than the 5 mins on either side of that where there's not. The Illini beat a very strong Spartan team, did so without our two best players, and kept MSU in the woodshed licking its wounds for ~75% of the game.
That is great about Trent. Hire him as a GA if NBA doesn't work out for him. Here in Louisville Chris Mack is gone. Will be announced today. The program is in shambles. Glad we have Brad Underwood. He is building one heck of a culture at UI. This is what we need in Champaign. Great win.
Summer of 2020 I saw him and possibly his dad in Springfield at Home Plate with a hottie blonde. May be the reason he comes back?
Here's to hoping they don't come sniffing around for Chester.
Bigtex
- DFW
They were looking for / listening for whistle. That is when the clock would have stopped or reset too. Basket would have been good
TheFameProtector
- Champaign
One of the reasons I loved seeing Goode playing so many minutes and contributing mightily in them. I wish BU was more willing to give some tick to RJ if one of our 3s/4s isn't on for a given night, or if our 5s are in foul trouble and we can go with the length/speed look with Hawk at the 5. Can't argue with the results tonight though.
This might sound counterintuitive, but I think DMW can contribute more on offense when he's being asked to do less, ie, just serve as a spot-up shooter rather than a creator off the dribble. With AC out so much and Ayo gone he's been asked to do a lot more of the latter and that's where things start to go off the rails.
The game is on the ESPN app. Not ESPN+ but in the regular ESPN section if that makes sense. Under conferences I selected BIG Ten and it was the first game that appeared. I'm watching it now.
I'm not so sure this is right. But I'm equally not so sure it's wrong.
Yes he has shown frustration getting his share of no calls the last two games
Definitely has talent
Welcome to the Big 10 Great win
Bigtex
- DFW
Clock operators are listening for whistles. In this situation it is nearly impossible to stop clock with 0.02 seconds. After the review officials reset clock to 0.02 seconds meaning shot and more importantly foul happened with 0.02 seconds remaining
Yes, if we're healthy and everyone is available. Hopefully we get all this bad luck with illness and injuries out of the way before the tournament (does it work that way?).
Desperation is a powerful emotion in this conference. Seems like more times than not, the most desperate team wins. There was just no way we were going to lose 3 in a row.
If/When everyone final decides to get healthy BU will have some juggling to do. If we play with the three headed monster of Trent, Plummer, and Belo then we are potentially undersized at every position except Kofi. But that lineup is almost unstoppable offensively. It seems like Hawkins would lose the most minutes. He just hasn't found a consistent way to affect the game. But at the same time, BU needs to keep him engaged because there is nobody else like him on the team. He could potentially be a nightmare defending someone with his length and athleticism, like he was with Harper.
I also think BU needs to have a short leash on Belo when he's finally playing consistently. Trent has proven he can win games with the ball in his hands. And I think BU will be ok with keeping Belo on the bench when needed. Moving forward I think we'll see some nights where Belo gets 35 minutes because he's unstoppable, and other nights where he only gets 12 minutes because he's playing sloppy.
If/When everyone final decides to get healthy BU will have some juggling to do. If we play with the three headed monster of Trent, Plummer, and Belo then we are potentially undersized at every position except Kofi. But that lineup is almost unstoppable offensively. It seems like Hawkins would lose the most minutes. He just hasn't found a consistent way to affect the game. But at the same time, BU needs to keep him engaged because there is nobody else like him on the team. He could potentially be a nightmare defending someone with his length and athleticism, like he was with Harper.
I also think BU needs to have a short leash on Belo when he's finally playing consistently. Trent has proven he can win games with the ball in his hands. And I think BU will be ok with keeping Belo on the bench when needed. Moving forward I think we'll see some nights where Belo gets 35 minutes because he's unstoppable, and other nights where he only gets 12 minutes because he's playing sloppy.
Well that was a fun — and tense — game to watch. Wasn’t pretty at times, but that final score was gorgeous.
— Hats off to BBV and Payne. Their rebounding totals weren’t very good, but getting 15 points from them combined was very nice. They have their offensive limitations, but I thought both moved well, made themselves targets down low, caught the ball, and finished better than they have been.
— Good for Goode. Got a bit more extended tick and performed very well.
— I thought on the final play it was a foul on Hawkins, but didn’t really have a problem with him fouling at that point — he had to contest. My problem was with his defense that allowed Hall to get downhill in the first place.
— I’m a DMW fan and realize and applaud everything he brings to the table, With the strange lineups BU has had to use with all the injuries, DMW is being asked to do things out of his comfort zone. It’s not an accident that Izzo calls him the Draymond Green of the Illini. With all that said, the only time I yelled at the TV was when he drove toward the basket and rather than shoot he tried an ill-advised dump down (more like a handoff) to Payne or BBV. That was the second time he did something like that last night, while also having multiple times he drove in a bit, just stopped with no plan, turned back and tried to get ball back out to someone. He might have had only one TO, but he was bogging the offense down with those moves. I just wish he had more of a plan or awareness when he does those things. I do think some of that is a byproduct of AC and Kofi not being in, but we need a bit more out of him in those situations.
With all that said, everyone who played contributed — even Lieb with an “impactful” screen. Great team win over a top 10 opponent.
— Hats off to BBV and Payne. Their rebounding totals weren’t very good, but getting 15 points from them combined was very nice. They have their offensive limitations, but I thought both moved well, made themselves targets down low, caught the ball, and finished better than they have been.
— Good for Goode. Got a bit more extended tick and performed very well.
— I thought on the final play it was a foul on Hawkins, but didn’t really have a problem with him fouling at that point — he had to contest. My problem was with his defense that allowed Hall to get downhill in the first place.
— I’m a DMW fan and realize and applaud everything he brings to the table, With the strange lineups BU has had to use with all the injuries, DMW is being asked to do things out of his comfort zone. It’s not an accident that Izzo calls him the Draymond Green of the Illini. With all that said, the only time I yelled at the TV was when he drove toward the basket and rather than shoot he tried an ill-advised dump down (more like a handoff) to Payne or BBV. That was the second time he did something like that last night, while also having multiple times he drove in a bit, just stopped with no plan, turned back and tried to get ball back out to someone. He might have had only one TO, but he was bogging the offense down with those moves. I just wish he had more of a plan or awareness when he does those things. I do think some of that is a byproduct of AC and Kofi not being in, but we need a bit more out of him in those situations.
With all that said, everyone who played contributed — even Lieb with an “impactful” screen. Great team win over a top 10 opponent.
Regarding the frosh...really like Goode, Podz and Melendez. Need them all to return next year because believe it or not they would be the veterans at the guard and wing spots. Getting them a few more minutes would pay dividends for next year while giving our veterans much needed rest....even if it costs the team a bit in the short term with the mistakes I'm sure they would make.
BU surely has enough job security at this point to be willing to take a few risks with these young guys and the energy they bring to the court. Hope this coaching staff can manage the egos of these talented young men....not an easy task in this age of the transfer portal.
BU surely has enough job security at this point to be willing to take a few risks with these young guys and the energy they bring to the court. Hope this coaching staff can manage the egos of these talented young men....not an easy task in this age of the transfer portal.
Anyone remember John Wooden? He sat calmly on the bench with a folder up piece of paper in his hand for the entire game. Rarely expressed emotion to players or officials. Coaching has changed.
It's a tough thing to balance this late in the year. It's not about job security. It's about putting his best five(on both sides) on the floor. They need to start stacking wins. Development comes in practice and in the weight room.
This team has a chance to hang banners and be one we talk about for decades. We have a team built to win now. Playing time certainly helps with player development, but it isn't the only way. I disagree with the concept of sacrificing anything from this season, to benefit seasons to come. If this team does what it is capable of doing, it will solidify Illini basketball as one of the top programs in the country. If BU can do that, it will be less difficult to replace players who aren't happy. I certainly hope more guys EARN playing time, but only if it means those players are a net positive in team performance in the game. Goode is certainly doing his part to try and steal minutes form the vets.
The B1G is there for the taking THIS season. They have to seize this opportunity. In order to do that in a conference where even the "bad" teams are decent, you have to put your best foot forward every time you have the opportunity to lace them up.
Hopefully, the young men on this team keep an eye on the big picture and not on the box score.
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