Penn State 74, Illinois 59 Postgame

[RDS]

Given our talent level this game could only go this poorly if we had no true team leader.
So I don’t think BU was just blowing off steam in his postgame, I think his very public message was actually directed at our players that the team leader role is still open. Brad cannot select or anoint the leader- that is a role that has to be earned and taken by a player with their peers. But he can and just did declare to every player on our team that the job of leader should no longer be assumed to be TSJs just by default.
Smart and necessary (predicable even?) part of the process with an all new team.
My hope (and probably Brads too) remains that TSJ clearly takes it since he has all the right ingredients on paper to do so. If he doesn’t, my guess is Harris (probably a bit prematurely) takes it.

 

[jason88cubs]

Epps or Harris will be starting by start of February.

 

[SKane]

Brad is mad.

Now he will have to back it up with making whatever changes need to be made or else his credibility will be shot.

 

[dbeverly26]

Epps or Harris will be starting by start of February.

Epps should be starting next week, and it’s Mayer who sits. He basically won us the game vs. Texas but was freelancing on both ends the whole time, and unless he stands on his head every time out it’s gonna cost us games.

There’s a difference between taking your man off the dribble or taking a quick three and just ignoring the offense to run iso every time down the court. He could make this a special team but he absolutely needs to get his oar in the water if we’re gonna do anything.

He had plenty of company today, but this has been a thing for a while now. It’s so frustrating because he should know better as a senior and a winner.

 

[HailtotheChief]

I thought Harris played good. I also thought Skyy played well he just missed a couple good looks but still had 7 boards n shot well. Rodgers was fine too. Hawk, TSJ,RJ and Epps struggled . Sometimes when your asking smaller guards to stop a strong experienced guard like Pickett when PSU is running sets to get a switch for the miss match then we may need to adjust. If BU expects them to switch Harris, Skyy, or Epps to stop him then that may be a mistake and asking a lot.
The open looks maybe from three are a different issue

 

[Bigtex]

0-2 is not ideal but our schedule is still very favorable compared to most teams in the conference. The only way to turn it around is to go on a winning streak, win some games you aren't favored to win. This team is more than capable of doing that they just have to do it.

Keep playing like this and we will have many more games we aren’t favored to win.

 

[the national]

There were always going to be growing pains with this team. The idea is that this team is clicking on all cylinders by the end of the year. What sucks is you are 0 and 2 in the big 10.

That’s how I feel. Bad game, sure. Inconsistent, you bet. Being stuck in a hole within the standings of the big ten - now it’s a real uphill battle. My heart just said the big ten championship is out (though it’s obviously too early). When you spot the league +2, I can’t imagine us finding a path to the crown.

Maybe it doesn’t matter. March is what matters. And this team is no where near ready for March (or Feb, or Jan or December)

 

[Miles Leonard]

That’s how I feel. Bad game, sure. Inconsistent, you bet. Being stuck in a hole within the standings of the big ten - now it’s a real uphill battle. My heart just said the big ten championship is out (though it’s obviously too early). When you spot the league +2, I can’t imagine us finding a path to the crown.

Maybe it doesn’t matter. March is what matters. And this team is no where near ready for March (or Feb, or Jan or December)

I'll take a 3rd or 4th place finish in the Big Ten if we get to the second weekend of the tourney.

 

[HailtotheChief]

Epps or Harris will be starting by start of February.

I don't think Skyy was an issue. Shot 50 percent , only 1 TO, 7 boards. I'm sure he wasn't perfect but he wasn't why we lost.

 

[Dragons89]

I watched Penn State defend every pass while we sagged back and allowed Penn State to move too freely. Brad’s teams notoriously turn the ball over too much…especially early in the season. I wanted the press so bad when we cut it to five in the second half. We have a little token pressure when we were back down by 14. We need the pants on fire press with our length. So frustrating. I think CoHawk could be great if he truly believed it himself. He has grown considerably but has a ways to go. It’s just like the 2 freebies he missed late against Texas. He needs that killer instinct and be done with being just good.

 

[Navy_illini]

When you compare this team to the last couple. There are a few things missing even though we are more talented

1. Leadership. You can’t replace Trent or DMW
2. Toughness. Probably comes from the leadership
3. Knowing the opponent. Last year team knew the scouting report just as well as the coaches. With freshmen and transfers that won’t be the case

I don’t care if we lost but it looked like we stopped playing in the second half. Still a lot of basketball yet to play. Every player needs to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they put their best effort forward and were proud of their effort. For some players that answer is yes

 

[Bigtex]

Wow! He’s pissed off. Can’t imagine what practice is going to be like this week. Whoa! If this doesn’t wake them up, don’t know what will.

Part of leadership is being pro active instead of reactive. He said they were horrible practices this week. So what did coach change or adjust after a week of bad practice? He has said many times before so and so had a good week of practice and that resulted in more minutes etc.

tired of making excuses for the team when the switching defense gets tourched again.

And similar excuses for the offense that does a lot of standing around and waiting for something to happen

 

[IlliniShelt]

Part of leadership is being pro active instead of reactive. He said they were horrible practices this week. So what did coach change or adjust after a week of bad practice? He has said many times before so and so had a good week of practice and that resulted in more minutes etc.

tired of making excuses for the team when the switching defense gets tourched again.

And similar excuses for the offense that does a lot of standing around and waiting for something to happen

Do you really think the coaches didn't make any adjustments?

 

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

Part of leadership is being pro active instead of reactive. He said they were horrible practices this week. So what did coach change or adjust after a week of bad practice? He has said many times before so and so had a good week of practice and that resulted in more minutes etc.

tired of making excuses for the team when the switching defense gets tourched again.

And similar excuses for the offense that does a lot of standing around and waiting for something to happen

Part of leadership is also letting people fall flat on their face, so you can get their attention and inject some much-needed humility into your team.

 

[jrichisamazing]

I would gladly trade the UCLA and Texas wins for a 2-0 conference start....it is what it is.

 

[Manual3for4peat]

I would gladly trade the UCLA and Texas wins for a 2-0 conference start....it is what it is.

I wouldn’t. We’ve won the conference two years in a row. I want to get to a sweet sixteen.

 

[jrichisamazing]

Part of leadership is also letting people fall flat on their face, so you can get their attention and inject some much-needed humility into your team.

Yep, this is our 3rd loss but our first "bad" performance. So it will be interesting to see how we react. IMO, this team is full of competitors that really hate losing and they will be better from today.

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

Part of leadership is also letting people fall flat on their face, so you can get their attention and inject some much-needed humility into your team.

My thoughts as well. To me it's all about how we play at the end of the year. If this makes us better then I'm good with that.

 

[jrichisamazing]

I wouldn’t. We’ve won the conference two years in a row. I want to get to a sweet sixteen.

Why not both?

 

[illini80]

Underwood was pissed!! Don’t see him calling out players very often like he did today.

Honestly I wasn’t overly surprised. Not that i predicted this game, but we are going to lose more like this before the season is over. Hopefully guys take this loss to heart and get locked in for the rest of the B10 season. Cause Lordy we were not locked in on anything today.

 

[RockfordIllini]

Maybe I'm the only one, but really, I'm not all that unhappy about this game. When you're a young team with a lot of new faces, sometimes you're going to have games where you don't do what you need to to win a game. Personally, I thought the effort was there, but the recognition of what was going on and the individual responsibilities to the team defensive assignments wasn't. And that's compounded when you go up against a team of veterans who are draining the ball. I thought we played a lot better overall in the 2nd half, but a few bad decisions/sloppy plays, a couple missed open shots, and PSU making some low percentage shots, and the hole we dug ourselves was just too much.

In a game like this, I'd prefer to focus on what we did right. Ty Rodgers had a good game, his best of the season. He showed a lot of effort, was tough on the glass, and played much better defense today than he has previously. Sincere Harris is another one who had a good game, though defensively, Pickett took him to school. This is the first time Sincere's defense has been tested all season and it comes down to strength and conditioning, and I think this game will be a great learning experience for him in making sure he doesn't allow strong veteran opponents to get good position on him when they receive the ball because he won't be able to defend that. The Sincere Harris in a year won't be bullied like he was today. Skyy Clark also had a good day offensively and was especially responsible on the boards. He was also bullied by Pickett today, and he still has quite a ways to go on defense, but he had an overall decent day.

And finally, a game like today allows a coach to hold his players responsible and get them to recommit to the team philosophy. While you never want to have these types of games, practices, or pressers, having one early in the season with a young team is a good time to have it as it helps them understand what the expectation is to step on the court.

Overall, I wouldn't take too much from this game or blow it out of proportion. Now if we come out our next few games similarly, then I'd say it's time for concern, but when you're a young team, you're going to struggle early against teams with veteran experience. That's how you learn and that's how you grow. And to be honest, a game like this could be the type of learning experience necessary to have a special season. I'm not overly concerned.

I’m with you. I thought the effort was there, we just had a lot of execution issues on defense. Which actually wasn’t that shocking because they are issues we’ve had all year. We are pretty good at switching on ball stuff but have struggled switching off ball and have given up open 3’s in the half court in other games. And we’ve also struggled to match up in transition defense. Penn State is uniquely positioned to exploit the biggest issues we have as a team right now. As I said in my own post, throw in a guard that can bully our freshmen down low and we have our kryptonite.

We did push and get it to 5, but a 9-0 run in a minute and we did give up. That’s probably the most disappointing thing is for the first time this year felt like we let mistakes compound and it actually carried over to our offense and ultimately affect our effort.

But that’s the first time that’s happened and all of these issues are fixable. Guessing we will have a few more clunkers this year yet but should give tons of good film and get everyone’s full attention during practice.

 

[WeWillWhen]

I see BU in his post game presser lament and lambast the lack of leadership.

No disrespect intended, but doesn’t leadership start at the apex of an organization.

BU says he saw the problem since they landed from NYC. Doesn‘t he own a part of this vacuum ?

I remember the message boards and even some in the national press absolutely destroyed Bruce Weber after he threw players under the bus following a performance like this against Purdue. And I think Bruce’s comments were milder than what I just heard from Brad.

 

[WeWillWhen]

For all the bad that came out of today, Harris, once again, played his absolute butt off. I don’t think he needed to be humbled today.

Brad singled him out in the presser as the only player on the roster who plays hard every day.

 

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

My thoughts as well. To me it's all about how we play at the end of the year. If this makes us better then I'm good with that.

I heard over and over again in the lead-up to this season that this was a team that was built for March. If that comes to fruition, I will accept more losses like this one. They will still be agonizing, but I can trust the process. I think BU has earned that.

 

[Navy_illini]

Harris is the future of the team. He continues to play that D and develops a good shot he will be a star