I said before the season started that Rodgers "kind of reminded me", from what little I saw of him of Nick Anderson at this stage of their respective careers. I still stand by that.
Illinois 69, Rutgers 60 Postgame
- Status
Great point. Ty is playing with confidence. But RJ will be in the game in the last 3 min. Neither can hit a three, but RJ hits FTs at a good clip and when he plays hard, his defense and rebounding are a plus. just a tick below Ty. But until RJ starts filling it up from three, Ty will see big minutes.
well said... I think before its over we will see ty put together a complete game!!!
I'm not
RJ was suspended today for team violations
Weird game today, but I'll never turn down a win over a good Rutgers team and 8th yr. Senior Paul Macaeyi. Coleman with 5 turnovers and 1-5 from 3 land, but arguably 1 of his best games as a Illini. 7-8 from 2, blocks, defense, and boards. Ty Rodgers and Sencire, plus Epps are huge adds for our future. Great culture Illini players. Dainja has surpassed my hope for him in a Illini uniform. Case in point on a fast break in 2nd half with TSjr. Going 35mph. To the hoop, guess who was hustling 6.9 275lbs behind him? Dainja, rebound and an easy layup. So impressive with his natural skill. Now his effort and heart are following! I like our smaller rotation. I L L I N I
Agree, we even got some breaks today
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
What a game ............What a win ....................Way to go Fighting Illini.......................
Once again , we came out and got the first 4 points then regressed as ru took over the game ....Eerily similar to the loosiers game , but we kept close and only trailed by 4 at the half...........
Then came the second half and the ELITE ILLINI DEFENSE took over............19-0 run and ru caved in big time ....what worked for them the first half was taken away in the second half and we never looked back.......
Cohawk with 18 & 8
Dain with 15 & 7
TSJ and MM came alive in the second half
Ty Rodgers has pogo stick type bounce in his rebounding efforts
Sincere had a much needed 3 to start the run and his D was smothering as usual
epps with a so-so game and got his pocket pickede by mcconnell on a bad look late, but he will bounce back.....
Seems like we float along and then , WHAMMY , and our D just demoralizes our opponents, as ru went over 10 minutes without scoring ,,,,,not 1 point at all .... nix ,nary , naught and we rush by on our way to another victory..................
Time for payback next Tuesday at Happy Valley.........
BU on the post game radio interview..........................
much respect for coach Piekell
slow start for our rebounding
out of rythym
last 7 minutes of 1st half we came on
frosh are posh
sincere and epps great defense
Ty gets every rebound this side of the Mississippi river
cohawk was huge today....points , D and rebs
glad to see Luke back on the court......we need him down the stretch
Dain carried us the 1st half......got 2 fouls on oymimori
we had 7 blocked shots today
our 19-0 run was awesome....players on the bench said don't change it ......keep it going......
great weekend with Deron and mannie and Rick S. back here.................
great win pru........tell NL # 3 I'll be over in aboot an hour .....wait for me then start the party.......OK ??
Hurry up dear .....it's gonna be amazing...................................
another one bites the dust ..............another one bites the dust..................................
I love my Illini sports teams..................I really really do...........................
I can assure you Brad did not….and I can assure you he thinks they are the worst crew in the league
Whitmans Sampler
- Eastern Iowa
May not have been noticeable today, but I think once Luke shakes the rust off it will be clear. What he brings is what this team needs.
Sorry. I want to be a good team too, and I think we have way too much talent to be unranked this late in the season, exhibiting lackadaisical play too often. That's the way I see it. Again, sorry if it offends you. Like I said, they did what they needed to do in the second half and I'm happy with the win. I'm hoping for bigger things out of this team as much as any fan of the Illini.
We need Melendez for end of game free throw situations because Rodgers and Harris are a collective 9-35 on free throws this season, and I don't want some 11 seed down by two points late putting some anxious freshmen that have struggled all season in a one and one situation.
A shooter that can rebound, scrap and play great defense. He is a GLUE guy!
It’s been reported by the local guys. From Brad. Great gif tho.
The last few years, the Illini have had several game stretches where they went over five minutes without scoring. And that isn’t easy to do in a game with a shot clock and free throws.
Today we saw something remarkable – almost even impossible to do. Rutgers doubled-up what the Illini have done with a scoring drought twice as long.
And the flow of the game was also something not often seen. Rutgers led virtually the entire game into well into the second half. And suddenly, their offense went dead and the Illini stepped on the gas and put the hammer down and seized the game. That is a Game Flow you also don’t often see.
This Illini team is full of surprises. Another example of not being sure exactly what you’re going to see from one game to the next.
And as most any coach will tell you at this point of a Season... the Illini freshmen aren’t freshmen any more. And it shows these days.
Today we saw something remarkable – almost even impossible to do. Rutgers doubled-up what the Illini have done with a scoring drought twice as long.
And the flow of the game was also something not often seen. Rutgers led virtually the entire game into well into the second half. And suddenly, their offense went dead and the Illini stepped on the gas and put the hammer down and seized the game. That is a Game Flow you also don’t often see.
This Illini team is full of surprises. Another example of not being sure exactly what you’re going to see from one game to the next.
And as most any coach will tell you at this point of a Season... the Illini freshmen aren’t freshmen any more. And it shows these days.
I don't understand what's with our program in that if someone is struggling and has their role reduced, it's always something. How do these programs like Purdue get these dudes that just completely buy in even when they struggle and have to go to the bench? First, Skyy Clark quits the team and now Melendez is getting suspended. Hopefully we see him again. I like Goode and all, but a guy who averaged 9 MPG and 2 PPG last season isn't going to ride in and be a savior for a team after missing the entire season.
sacraig
- The desert
You could pair Larry S. with the two best in the league and they'd still collectively be the worst in the league.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I second that emotion........................................
- Status