Illinois 79, UCLA 70 Postgame

#351      

DRS

D
DRS
hiberto said:
Cronin is a bitter 🤡 . Werner asked him what he thought about sencire and he said "nothing, i'm worried about UCLA, you're asking me about a kid that played 9 minutes and had 4 points". yes and he completely destroyed your team in those 9 minutes
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He was not there to talk about Illinois that is for sure, doing the old trick of "it is my teams lack of effort that did us in." I thought Cronin was actually fantastic in this presser. No excuses at all. Didn't talk refs, or hot shooting, or any of that BS.

In my opinion, this is a great coaching addition to already the best coached conference in basketball. Bruins fan needs to step their game up to compete with what we got in the BIG.
 
#352      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
That was a fun. That crowd was crazy. Big assist to them on the win. What a lift seeing and hearing all those Illini fans had to be.

Wasn’t always pretty but team played so tough second half. TSJ — what can you say. And not one player who stepped on to that court tonight failed to contribute to that win. Some much more than others, but each had an impact.

And hats off to Sencire. Living in Ohio, I’d seen a few complete games of his on TV and knew he was a dawg and would have a good career at Illinois. But in those games, he and his team were always better — some cases much better — than the opponents, and I wasn’t sure he would be able to do that against top college talent initially. His play against cupcakes didn’t convince me and I chalked it up to having more talent like in high school. Well I was wrong. He just had a night against one of the top PGs in the country — and a veteran one to boot. What an outstanding weapon to have coming off the bench. Now I’ll just head over here to the corner and pick these feathers out of my teeth.
 
#356      

splitter

splitter
splitter
Mr. Roberts said:
Was looking for a Butch and Sundance gif!
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paul newman GIF
this game had a much better ending
 
#357      

LouHenson

LouHenson
LouHenson
illinibb76 said:
Danija should start and Hawkins needs to come off the bench. He played tentative and seemed lost on offense. RJ also played tentative. Both are very talented but they need to trust their skills and play with more confidence and fluidity. The freshmen are legit! Great battle!!!
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Not a chance for Coleman, his defense at the top of the key is critical for our defense approach. Coleman did not have a good offensive game, but his defensive game was a large reason (along with Harris’ defense) that won this game.
 
#361      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Shannon catches fire as No. 19 Illinois gets comeback win over No. 8 UCLA

Terrence Shannon Jr. tied a program record with eight 3s and had a game-high 29 points. His second-half inferno gave the Illini a win over a top 10 opponent.
www.stltoday.com www.stltoday.com

Chase Stevens

Illinois needed some energy down double-digits in the second half.
It got it from a likely source in Terrence Shannon Jr., and an unlikely one in freshman Sencire Harris.
Shannon was the star for the No. 19 Illini, tying the program-record of made 3s in a game with eight triples and a game-high 29 points, but Harris’ second-half minutes were crucial for a 79-70 come-from behind win over No. 8 UCLA on Friday in Las Vegas at the Continental Main Event.
UCLA had a 15-point lead with 17:53 left after a 17-1 run, then Shannon caught fire. He had 19 second-half points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double as an Illini and willed the offense down the stretch.


He hit a large portion of his 3s off the dribble while the Bruins went under screens, but also added spot up looks down the stretch. He had four 3s in the final 8:02 to stretch the lead after a Skyy Clark layup gave Illinois a 53-52 lead with 9:10 left.
Illinois led for the rest of the game thanks to a run featuring a full-court press and some energy injected by Harris that flipped the game in the second half.
Illinois had eight steals and got pressure during a 24-8 run that was started by Shannon’s first triple of the second half. UCLA turned the ball over nine times in the second half, while the Illini outscored the Bruins 51-33 after the break.
Harris guarded UCLA guard Tyger Campbell for stretches and ratcheted up the ball pressure that helped Illinois get 17 points off UCLA turnovers. Harris finished with four points, an assist and a pair of steals while the Illini were plus-16 in his 10 minutes, all of which came in the second half.
 
#367      

Pikeillinifan

Pikeillinifan
Pikeillinifan
LouHenson said:
Not a chance for Coleman, his defense at the top of the key is critical for our defense approach. Coleman did not have a good offensive game, but his defensive game was a large reason (along with Harris’ defense) that won this game.
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I can complain about Hawkins, and wish he was more consistent on offense, but he really does bring another dimension to this team on defense with his size and athletic ability.
 
#368      

Mr. Roberts

Mr. Roberts
Mr. Roberts
#372      

NASchamp

NASchamp
Atlanta
NASchamp
It was all there last night. You saw everything we hoped for at the beginning of the season and against elite competition.

The defense was tough, with nonstop switching. Press disrupted the flow. We went deep like we all hoped we could against good competition and wore down a team that went to the Final Four. Any Illini on the floor could score at any time, which will make game planning really tough against this group. The 3s were dropping and Dain looked great inside.

Sure, we have things to improve on. Free throws and lessening TOs will be key before the B1G season begins. I’m confident RJ and CH will find their form. There’s just so many people than can contribute in any game, they will each have their own huge games down the road.

Impressed with the leadership and skills of TSJ. He was lights out. And I also loved seeing aggressive driving and cutting to get to the line. We’ve really missed that in past years. The freshman looked like they belonged in a big game - which is incredible at this point in the season.

We’re a really fun team to watch too! Tons of energy. We need to just keep meshing and stay injury free. The ceiling is high my friends. Very, very high.
 
#375      

Dbell1981

D
Decatur, IL
Dbell1981
Didnt read thru 16 pages of posts to see if anyone mentioned it but TSJ is our Plummer replacement with the ability to take it to the rack! This team can shoot the rock!