Northwestern 73, Illinois 60 Postgame

[hoopsfan47]

Mr. Box Score says Coleman had 3 turnovers, which isn’t horrible for 36 minutes of play. But the ones he had seemed pretty ghastly (if one type of TO can be worse than another). Shannon’s 3 turns were not great, either.

Not to say the refereeing is solely to blame, but I wonder if any team has ever come out on top while footing the bill for a 40-10 free throw discrepancy.

Can't complai about the free throw imbalance....the Illini fouled...and fouled....and fouled. Cats pretty much used theirs strategically. What I saw was an Illini defense that was focused and working hard for about 70% of the time...and then became impatient.

Boo taught Sencire a few lessons...and Sencire also learned one the hard way. Save your breath kid and embrace the fact you are not the first player in history to make a play against a good player. Sure would love to see all our Illini shut their mouths and act like they expect to make great plays. Take the energy used by your mouth and put it in your feet...you will have more energy when needed and earn a ton more respect. Then when an opponent is running his mouth, you will have the energy to go him one better and walk back to the other end knowing regardless of what comes out of his mouth, he will respect you even more.

 

[illiniswish09]

Am I crazy or did the coach sign up for this job and bring in these exact players?

He did 100%. So he has to figure that out, shouldn't be a one way street though.

 

[KingWolf11]

My optimism says this is one of those blue blood five star rosters that looks like reheated butt in early January and somehow clicks unexpectedly, goes on a conference run then ignites in the tourney
Don't ask me for references, it's a hope.

What 5 stars?

 

[BBIQ]

Eh, no, execution was squarely laid at the feet of the players - on both ends
Discipline, he took the hit for.

I'm sorry but you're wrong. He said specifically that he doesn't have them running any semblance of an offense and its on him. @SeattleSlim heard the same thing i did.

 

[illiniswish09]

Am I crazy or did the coach sign up for this job and bring in these exact players?

When you completely neglect to run the offense in the opening two possessions of the game that's bs

 

[The Sprouting Divot]

I bought tickets for this game back when they went on sale - this was my seven year old's first Illinois basketball game, and I assumed that he'd have a fun time watching a great team beat up on a mediocre/bad team. Boy, was I ever wrong.

At least he now understands what it is to be an Illinois fan.

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

A few random thoughts.

When teams shoot a lot of threes even though they're not that good at them, it's often a sign of laziness or cluelessness on the offensive scheme. The three is the easiest shot to take.

People keep talking about the talent. It's fine talent, but it's not special talent. Lots of orange colored glasses see a lot more than reality.

BU and Weber both have the problm/reality that their teams don't run well without a general on the floor. DWill and Chester were the best seasons for Weber. Trent for BU. I don't think we're unusual that way.

At the end of the day, this is on BU. These are the guys he recruited and coached up. Saving this season is going to be tough because there's been a few NBA dreams that died in the last month. A number of these guys seemed to have that in their sights more than a winning team. Not sure how you get the right attitude back.

 

[Cook]

Had the (un)fortunate pleasure of sitting courtside for that debacle tonight. This is one of the worst offensive teams and schemes I’ve ever seen. There is next to no purpose on almost any pass, cut or screen. So easy to defend. Also just an awful shooting team between forced 3s and missed open 3s. 8/28, 8/28, 7/31, 7/27, 7/23 last 5 games behind the arc. Yikes. Definition of insanity just “running” the same garbage on every possession. When you don’t have Kofi or Ayo to bail you out you see how bad the offense is. Or this year a ridiculous once in a lifetime shooting night by TSJ.

Also, and I’m sure I’ll get torched here, but Brad’s antics on the sideline are getting ridiculous. The screaming at guys, the constant terrible body language…. It’s hard to watch in person so close. I’d be embarrassed if I looked like that in any situation. Get a grip Brad.

End of day this is Underwood’s roster, staff, and program. It’s on him.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

 

[BBIQ]

Mr. Box Score says Coleman had 3 turnovers, which isn’t horrible for 36 minutes of play. But the ones he had seemed pretty ghastly (if one type of TO can be worse than another). Shannon’s 3 turns were not great, either.

Not to say the refereeing is solely to blame, but I wonder if any team has ever come out on top while footing the bill for a 40-10 free throw discrepancy.

Mr Boxscore doesn't have a stat for dumb plays, bad shots and wasted possessions. turnovers don't tell the entire story.

 

[jumpingjack]

What 5 stars?

The talent on this roster is there.
The mentality clearly isn't. Yet.

 

[fulton steamer]

I really don't like to rip on players. I always say that no one wants to hit the shots, or make the difficult stops, more than the guys taking them or trying them. But when I see the antics displayed on the bench in the middle of the game it really makes me wonder if BU got all kinds of physical talent in the portal, but without the heart that we had in years past. Can anyone imagine, Ayo, Trent, DeMonte, or Kofi playing with the crowd in a game like this? It is very disappointing to me. Ayo would have given up his left.......ear to win a game. And by the way, THAT is why he's starting in the League right now.

 

[jumpingjack]

I'm sorry but you're wrong. He said specifically that he doesn't have them running any semblance of an offense and its on him. @SeattleSlim heard the same thing i did.

I think we're arguing semantics to some extent. He clearly said they were not executing sets and actions that they ran 100 times in practice once they were in the flow of the game. That's execution. That's on the players. His offense is not some random iso or random stepback three gibberish. There is supposed to be a methodical approach in there and it's not happening when they get on the floor. The fact that we're seeing that happen is, as he said, on him in terms of instilling discipline to the approach and grit to do something for somebody out there other than yourself.

 

[jumpingjack]

Except we don’t have any five stars and we’re not a blue blood.

 

[Whitmans Sampler]

Where’s the John Groce motivational ladder when we need it?

 

[chudaman]

I think there is hope with Epps and Harris so give them the keys and go and maybe the Illini can make a run in the Big Ten Tourney.

 

[ILLFAN67]

Coleman Hawkins had a very bad first 35 minutes of the game. It’s like he forgot how to play basketball. We miss way to many wide open looks from 3. It kills us that Melendez, Clark and Hawkins are giving us virtually nothing on offense these days. Coleman has been taking the worst shots, nothing in rhythm. That run where we worked the ball in then out and went up before Sincere ruined our momentum was what we need to do more of. No diving for loose balls. Boxing out on rebounds is lacking. This team has to find all of that somehow and Play AS A TEAM! Not Individuals trying to make it to the NBA.

 

[Miles Leonard]

Where’s the John Groce motivational ladder when we need it?

 

[Dan]

 

[jumpingjack]

I'm dipping out because I'll be damned if I have to explain what an analogy is after sitting through that steaming pile of .
Hope springs eternal, beat Wiscy and most of this is forgiven...At least until the 10th.
I L L

 

[Deep]

I'm encouraged by Matt Mayer's post game comments

 

[211EastDaniels]

A couple of things. Worst Illini offensive performance in years. No movement, no driving to the rim, no pick and roll action. Five guys standing outside the 3-point line incapable of creating there own shot (MM excepted), lousy ball handling - looks like they are playing with a lopsided ball, total YMCA gym rats lack of coordination.

Defense is OK, but too many reaching fouls, no commitment to guarding with your feet.

Lastly, somebody needs to explain to me why the portal and NIL hurts our team, and not our opponents. Hmmm?

 

[NASchamp]

Not even sure who to blame. Why is Coleman Hawkins constantly getting the ball 5 ft beyond the 3pt line? What is he going to do with it there other than throw it away?

 

[dbeverly26]

I thought this was going to be one of my favorite teams ever and they’ve turned into a bunch of glass-jawed losers seemingly out of nowhere. I have no idea what happened on their flight back from NYC but they need to figure it out, and fast. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had less fun watching Illinois basketball, even when we’ve had no talent at all.

Zero effort on defense. It’s not the scheme. This is the same team that currently has the best defensive performance of the year against UCLA, Texas, and Syracuse, and all running the switching D that we started the year with. There’s no system out there that can survive the laziness we’re seeing right now, and I hope the dumb narrative about X’s and O’s that’s popped up will die a quick and merciless death. This is purely a failure of execution. We get beat down the floor regularly, not just giving up transition buckets and fouls but also by simply starting possessions out of position. It’s inexcusable.

I’m not trying to let Underwood off the hook here because the coach is ultimately responsible for getting his players to execute, but it’s not a system thing on offense, either. The last few minutes of the first half was just shocking in terms of decision-making. Just the dumbest stuff I’ve seen from an Illinois team, especially out of Mayer, and to a lesser extent Hawkins and Shannon. They didn’t run their offense half the time, which makes it even more difficult when you do bother to run your stuff because you can’t count on guys being where they’re supposed to be. I don’t care if you run the weave, or the spread, or whatever. Watching guys jog through it and then just give up is something else.

Man, am I pissed. Unless Luke Goode can cure cancer, this team is done. And they deserve it.

 

[The Sprouting Divot]

For me, this team has become profoundly unlikable over the past month, and I'm feeling less interested in watching the full season and hoping that they turn things around than I ever did for any of the many other lousy teams I've endured over the last 40ish years.

Maybe I'm getting old, maybe I have less free time than I used to, maybe it's the NIL and free-for-all transfer landscape, maybe Uranus is in retrograde, but whatever it is, it sure sucks dog dingdongs.

 

[the national]

Mr. Box Score says Coleman had 3 turnovers, which isn’t horrible for 36 minutes of play. But the ones he had seemed pretty ghastly (if one type of TO can be worse than another). Shannon’s 3 turns were not great, either.

Not to say the refereeing is solely to blame, but I wonder if any team has ever come out on top while footing the bill for a 40-10 free throw discrepancy.

His shot selection plus timing of his turnovers were just deflating, no matter how you slice it. Some of his passing seemed out of rhythm, even if it didn’t directly result in a TO. It still broke the flow of the play. He’s not really an effective point forward (IMO). With (much more) practice, he might develop that skill but it’s not working.