Indiana 71, Illinois 68 Postgame

[JMoser16]

so close, yet so far. RJ is not a power conference player. Good seeing Goode stack another good game. Get RJ out of the rotation.

 

[Illini in Indiana]

Not bitchin', great effort!!! If RJ could hit anything we win. Poor guy, I hope the next few weeks favor him

 

[Birdus]

Man that sucks. We had that game in hand. We are so due for one of these big wins. Great fight from the boys, almost had it. We should win our next four and go into the btt at 21-10

21-10 is what I predicted. I hope I am right. Nevertheless, we need to win at least 3 of them. This game would have been a bonus considering we were on the road in a hostile environment without our best player (closer). I unlike a majority am happy that we showed fight and kept it down to the wire. I think we reinstituted today that we can play with anyone anywhere. Am I disappointed that we lost? Yes! But there is hope yet.

 

[Miles Leonard]

The ending sucked

 

[mk345]

Nope. Goode is every bit as capable in the press.

I really like Goode for what he is capable of, but I would still give the defensive edge to RJ.

 

[InDaAZ]

Bad finish, but great game. Epps didn’t run the play again, which I have a feeling that is what BU was on him about earlier in the game. Run the play.

Well, drawing the foul in that situation was a good result..
Just gotta hit the clutch freebies.

 

[Jimbo]

Not sure what’s more frustrating, the missed lay-ups or the second chance wide open 3 balls they drained over and over again.

That’s the top two right there.

 

[theNewGuy]

I think the dumb technical foul on hawkins was the point where everything just started to break down.
They had every opportunity to win this game.

 

[Eternal Optimist]

User name does NOT checkout

 

[cuillini]

Poor RJ. That would have been the ultimate redemption. I feel so bad for that kid.

Why was he in the game?

 

[sacraig]

Missed too many easy layups in the 1st half. The T on Hawkins hurt. In the 2nd half when up by 7 we needed to score

The T is not what killed us. The missed layups killed us.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

We lost on the road to a top 15 team without our best player. It's tough considering how long we led but nothing to hang out heads about.

Agreed, but the game was there to be won. Happy with the effort, but when you have a lead with under a minute to go, have to bring it home.

 

[Iamgroot]

Poor RJ. That would have been the ultimate redemption. I feel so bad for that kid.

Truthfully I don't know why he was even in the game at that point.i guess as a defensive force but is a absolute Achilles heal on the offensive end

 

[ugottabjoshinme]

There is a very small chance we get a steal.

There was almost a 100% chance of needing a 3 pointer in the last seconds.

Who are you putting in now? (that's rhetorical)

There was supposed to be a foul tho. Defense offense subs are super common in this situation as Indiana should have never broken press and scored.

 

[21ChampaignSt]

Just gave it away.

I wish I could blame it on the ridiculous tech call. But it had more to do with our mistakes in the last 10 minutes. Turnovers, the wrong shots from the wrong players, fouls, giving up second chance points.

We played a very solid 30 minutes of basketball though, in a game I didn't expect us to win anyway.

 

[Flyin' Illini]

I think the dumb technical foul on hawkins was the point where everything just started to break down.

I disagree. It "could" have been a turning point, but the team kept their composure and rebuilt the lead in the second half. But it definitely killed the run that could have given us more breathing room.

 

[WWWWRocU]

I know we brought the ball down with only 6.7 seconds left, but why was there no screen set up for Mayer? They threw 2 guys at him to get it out of his hands. He only needed a little opening to let it fly.

 

[Illinifan47]

When you play that well, you gotta convert the W. This one hurts.

 

[john1952]

RJ has such great form. I so wanted that one to go in.

 

[blife]

You cannot at this point have Ty and RJ both on the court at the end of a game. Love Ty's effort but he has to develop a jump shot. Playing 3 on 5.

 

[Illini2010-11]

Hurts to lose a game like this, where we were up nearly 10 down the stretch. However, the fight was there for 40 minutes without a key player for us. IU was at near full strength. Moral victories don't count, but I will take a loss with the intensity and fight that we showed. Hard to win on the road.

Shannon needs to get healthy for the stretch run. Need to take care of business at home the next two weeks and win at OSU. That will put us in good shape. Who knows, the game at Purdue is also winnable the way they have played lately.

Lots of basketball to play. Go 4-1 down stretch, we should easily be 6 or 7 seed in tourney. Time to take out some anger on the Gophers Monday!

 

[dbeverly26]

Watching IU’s high low and Hood-Schifino’s midrange game was frustrating

IU did a pretty good job of getting their non-TJD post players the ball and hit some tough contested jumpers, but what bugged me was the number of times we flashed a double-team against Hood-Schafino or some other guy we weren’t supposed to be doubling and got burned on a rebound or wide open three after they broke us down. We’ve done that all year and just have to be better about it.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

I think the dumb technical foul on hawkins was the point where everything just started to break down.
They had every opportunity to win this game.

Break down? We went up 9 in the second half. We extended the lead.

 

[illiniswish09]

Tough one to swallow but I’m very optimistic after that one. We will be dangerous in March, book it.

 

[AdamFletchersBicep]

Those offense rebounds from IU killed us.