Pregame: Illinois vs Texas, Tuesday, December 6th, 6:00pm CT, ESPN

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#53      

Illini92and96

Austin, TX
My alma mater orange 73, my adopted team orange 72. Goode comes off the bench to shoot two technicals to win it at the end.

I once wore a small logoed Illinois shirt to a Texas football game and tailgate, thinking I would show my support for the home team by wearing "orange". After everyone was staring at me I realized they were playing Oklahoma State and it matched their orange and blue. LOL. Burnt orange is pretty ugly, albeit distinct.
 
#54      

Bigtex

DFW
I didn't really feel Epps had that bad of a game. He got caught early doing what everyone does and it disrupted any possibility of him getting into a flow. If he gets one less foul, he probably plays his usual game, and we're talking about Epps being a hero. But that's not the way the zebra Gods worked.

I don't like losing, but I didn't feel it was a bad loss either. We saw CoHawk step up again, TSJ was welcomed to the B1G and didn't back down, and we played down a number of guys for whatever reasons (Harris, Mayer, Epps, Goode).

I remember some of the insiders talking about Rodgers running the point and being our best freshman during the preseason, but I see he only played 9 minutes last night. Was that all hype? He's a stud, no doubt, but is there a bigger learning curve than expected?

And Maryland's press seems to be much more effective than whatever we are attempting to run.
Until Rodgers is a threat to score imo hit PT will be limited
 
#55      
Texas has a great defense, but their offense isn't scary. If we can find a rhythm offensively, we should win but that's easier said than done against their D.

Texas' game against Gonzaga was an outlier IMO. Gonzaga is still trying to figure things out and that was Texas' first big game in their new arena. Even going back to last year, Texas wasn't as good on the road as they were at home. With this being their first road/neutral game this year, I like our chances.
 
#56      
Believe Jason Sudeikis GIF by Apple TV+
 
#61      

jjv0004

Greenville, SC
Hoping the Illini make it a competitive game throughout. Watched Texas against Creighton and they looked pretty good. I do realize Creighton lost to Nebraska but I watched them against Arkansas in Hawaii and they are pretty tough.
 
#63      
It looks like we have faced Texas five times throughout our history, most recently at Madison Square Garden!

2010-11: Texas 90, #13 Illinois 84 (New York, NY)
2000-01: Texas 72, #5 Illinois 64 (Austin, TX)
1997-98: Illinois 105, Texas 80 (Champaign, IL)
1993-94: #22 Illinois 83, Texas 78 (Champaign, IL)
1992-93: Texas 89, Illinois 72 (Austin, TX)

I always enjoy looking into series like this, where you are very familiar with a program simply due to casually watching hoops over the years and yet the Illini have such little actual history vs. them. I don't really remember the 2000-01 loss, but looking back, that seemed like a very out-of-place loss. Just goes to show that it's always a long season, and no one game makes or breaks how good this squad can be if we keep getting better. With that said, I am strangely confident tonight!

#17 Illinois 70
#2 Texas 67
 
#66      

WWWWRocU

Herndon, VA
Wear the throwbacks!!
With all the young guys this year, wearing this year's unis to establish their own identity in those unis makes more sense to me. Once there is a feeling of knowing who they are as a team, then maybe throw in a throwback game or two, especially if it is a game where several bball alumni are going to be attending.
 
#67      
A couple of good wrinkles for this one. TJ playing his former coach. Mayer playing his hometown team. Marcus car having someone other than Trent guarding him.

To me this one all comes down to turnovers. Texas has been turning people over about 20 times a game, with the exception of Creighton. I think our magic number is 14. If we keep at 14 or under we should have a chance as I think we match up well.

My prediction: they are a little off in their first game outside of Texas. Mayer, who has been close to breaking out, finally does with something like 15/6/2 with 3-4 3’s. We are jittery early but hang on for a tough, hard fought win! Maybe 69-64.
 
#68      
A couple of good wrinkles for this one. TJ playing his former coach. Mayer playing his hometown team. Marcus car having someone other than Trent guarding him.

To me this one all comes down to turnovers. Texas has been turning people over about 20 times a game, with the exception of Creighton. I think our magic number is 14. If we keep at 14 or under we should have a chance as I think we match up well.

My prediction: they are a little off in their first game outside of Texas. Mayer, who has been close to breaking out, finally does with something like 15/6/2 with 3-4 3’s. We are jittery early but hang on for a tough, hard fought win! Maybe 69-64.
Would love for Mayer to have that kind of game, but he really hasn't shown much so far. At this point, he's getting too many minutes for the production he provides.
 
#69      
It looks like we have faced Texas five times throughout our history, most recently at Madison Square Garden!

2010-11: Texas 90, #13 Illinois 84 (New York, NY)
2000-01: Texas 72, #5 Illinois 64 (Austin, TX)
1997-98: Illinois 105, Texas 80 (Champaign, IL)
1993-94: #22 Illinois 83, Texas 78 (Champaign, IL)
1992-93: Texas 89, Illinois 72 (Austin, TX)

I always enjoy looking into series like this, where you are very familiar with a program simply due to casually watching hoops over the years and yet the Illini have such little actual history vs. them. I don't really remember the 2000-01 loss, but looking back, that seemed like a very out-of-place loss. Just goes to show that it's always a long season, and no one game makes or breaks how good this squad can be if we keep getting better. With that said, I am strangely confident tonight!

#17 Illinois 70
#2 Texas 67
In the '97 game, we shot 52 free throws and Texas had the head coach and a player ejected with multiple technicals.

 
#70      
Would love for Mayer to have that kind of game, but he really hasn't shown much so far. At this point, he's getting too many minutes for the production he provides.
This is really the same narrative last year that Da'Monte got too many minutes and/or shouldn't start. It's obvious that Brad values the defense, energy, switchability, and intensity that these guys bring (more than say, a potential increase in offensive efficiency).

The only alternative to Mayer playing is more Dain (other lineups are very rebounding deficient). As much as I love watching Dain, I just don't think that works as well in the B1G. The best version of our offense is this pseudo-5 out with 4.5 solid shooters. If Mayer doesn't rebound to the ~35% shooting range, this just won't be an elite team (top 8, 2 seed in the tourney).

Fingers crossed for tonight! We're 3-0 against Carr, so let's keep that going :D
 
#71      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
This is really the same narrative last year that Da'Monte got too many minutes and/or shouldn't start. It's obvious that Brad values the defense, energy, switchability, and intensity that these guys bring (more than say, a potential increase in offensive efficiency).

The only alternative to Mayer playing is more Dain (other lineups are very rebounding deficient). As much as I love watching Dain, I just don't think that works as well in the B1G. The best version of our offense is this pseudo-5 out with 4.5 solid shooters. If Mayer doesn't rebound to the ~35% shooting range, this just won't be an elite team (top 8, 2 seed in the tourney).

Fingers crossed for tonight! We're 3-0 against Carr, so let's keep that going :D
It’s definitely good to have options. There have been times where Dain has changed things up for the better too. If something isn’t working, it’s just great to be able to change the look / dynamic of the team out there at any given moment. We’ll face all kinds of teams in and out of the B1G and in the tournament. I feel like we’re just going to be so much more versatile and dynamic than we have been for a while. And I’m lovin’ it.
 
#73      
Rodgers is the only freshman with a tougher road to playing time. We have this All American in front of him. He will be fine.
Agreed. I think Ty can be effective on O out of the high post but CoHawk has that role covered.
 
#74      
With all the young guys this year, wearing this year's unis to establish their own identity in those unis makes more sense to me. Once there is a feeling of knowing who they are as a team, then maybe throw in a throwback game or two, especially if it is a game where several bball alumni are going to be attending.
I mean, I guess I would understand that if they were new uniforms, but we have had these for several years now - just as we have had the throwbacks.

We are simply choosing our two uglier uniforms over our two absolutely awesome ones each game. :ROFLMAO: Obviously, though, at the end of the day I'll defer to what the players vote on and just be happy if we get the Ws! ... at least until we can do another, better rebrand that is. :cool:
 
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