Ohio State 72, Illinois 60 Postgame

[illini80]

Please get some transfer shooters next year.

We brought in 2 this year. I honestly think we’d have been a better team if we had been able to keep Jake (I don’t know if we tried or not). He played within the offense and seldom took bad 3’s.

 

[hiberto]

I don't know man. Brad should pull these players (Jayden, Coleman, etc...) that decide the best plan on offense is to jack up 25-30 footers. I'm convinced Coleman thinks that he gets more points the further that he shoots the ball. Brad needs to rip into this team and tell them that we are shooting WAY too many shots that we can get whenever we want them. But he just lets those same culprits play and jack up stupid shots that occasionally go in.

Really don't understand how the team or BU does not understand that when you are one of the worst shooting teams from 3 in the country (325th out of 350 teams prior to this game), you should shoot more twos and less threes. this is just common sense. or if BU is telling them to stop shooting them, why aren't they listening?

 

[illinipimp]

I'm sorry but as a player, if this doesn't piss you off, you simply don't belong in a program that markets "Everyday Guys." We're getting embarassed by a team that hasn't won in over 50 days. On national television. A gameplan contengient on jacking up 25 footers and consistently making them is not a good gameplan. Especially against a team without a big man. This team has a LOT to figure out.

Unfortunately the time to figure it out was a long time ago.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

Not to give them any excuses, but the four games in eight days and having to mount huge comebacks in two straight games caught up with them.

You just gave them an enormous excuse.

 

[SuperMetroid]

If anyone is attempting to bet on this team from game to game, you’re the bravest person on Earth. Hopefully this is just a hangover from the frantic comeback against the NUrds and 4 games in 9 days.

 

[Flyin' Illini]

I agree... but Shannon and TSJ are the same person lol

No wonder there is so much pressure on him.

 

[HailtotheChief]

My thoughts on this game are we need better point guard play! When Epps plays well we usually win and when he doesn’t we usually do not. Harris isn’t a PG. We needed a PG transfer and didn’t get one. He rolled the dice on 3 freshmen and one left and that is hurting us now. Other teams Pg with some size, strength, and quickness have owned us. The big guys with Hawk and others dribbling plus struggling to create for others is killing our offense. When we have done our best Epps has played well or we roll through Dain. That isn’t happening lately. Some of that is on BU and getting the right pieces and he bet on Skyy and Epps. That was a concern for many and rightly so.

 

[Dbell1981]

Mayer's on the floor because he shoots well. He's one of the best shot creators in the nation, and its not close, we live with him. I agree, TSJ needs to get a grip and realize he's just better going down hill than shooting the ball. That's on Brad to let him know his role on this team. But that should've been done in November, not March.

Man this must be Jay Wright himself on our board. You know if Shannon didnt shoot 3s we would have lost by 15 to Northwestern. I just love to laugh at you armchair coaches who have it all figured out. Lots of coaches here today, is the YMCA closed today?

 

[Flyin' Illini]

If anyone is attempting to bet on this team from game to game, you’re the bravest person on Earth.

Also, you may want to wait until halftime to get the best odds.

 

[Aldy1955]

Kind of perplexing how everyone on the team simultaneously goes cold from three. Not the first time.

Again did Goode or RJ shoot one ?

 

[john1952]

I counter with a vote for Mizzou loss

Given what was on the line this one is worst.

 

[727ill]

I think it’s time for Sencire to start in place of Epps. Defensively we have had poor starts for a while now.

 

[STATS GUY]

What we are looking for has not shown up? We can play 10 minutes of brilliance and 30 minutes of ????? When the ball is in the right hands we look good. The freshman were outclassed today by a wide margin. Guys coming down the middle of the floor on a fast break and throwing it away is not a good look down the stretch. When you need a bucket and we dont have a play for the best players to have the ball in their hand you question why. They had down screen action and back cut action in isolation and came off screens. We are all at the point which shrinks the court to half. Against NW we had TSJ from the high wing doing damage as he could go down hill to the rim or work off a high ball screen to cross over the midpoint and get to the rim with shooters in the corner. Just a lot of poor action on the offensive end which did not allow us multiple options.

 

[808Illini]

The proverbial straw. I’m officially checking out til next season. I was actually dumb enough to think after UCLA and Texas that this team was 89, 05 capable . Couldn’t have been more wrong. Play with a low b-ball IQ. No mental toughness. No urgency. Unable to force their will on a 3-14 opponent. Despite everyone in the free world knowing what you need to do offensively and defensively the players and the coach seem clueless. We don’t punch anyone in the mouth but are the recipient of such punches. Will not be shocked at all if we don’t win another game this year. That includes big ten tourney and NCAA tournament. Blame goes pretty much all around but Brad has to take the brunt of it as this has gone on for most of the second half of season.

Brad has been a mediocre coach at best THIS SEASON. I want to stress not his entire Illini career but this season.

 

[Zorak]

Worst loss of the year

I would probably pick one of the Penn State losses. Disappointing we have so many possible answers here

 

[FlotownIllini]

What can you say, really? I wish I could say that I am surprised by this outcome, but I can't.

The hope, of course, was that this team would play with a fire and intensity and purpose, having just pulled off an emotional comeback victory and having everything still to play for, with the outcomes of other games around the conference. To play the opposite of that is just deflating and gutwrenching.

I'm under no further delusions about what this team does the rest of the way. I'll be watching, and cheering, and caring...but I won't be expecting much. Here's hoping they surprise me, somehow.

 

[Navy_illini]

According to Jay Wright, this is a really good Illinois team that just ran into Ohio St. at the wrong time. Is that because Ohio St. has been playing such good basketball?

Or maybe, it was Ohio St. who ran into the right team at the right time.

Yes O$U is playing well right now. Once they took an ineffective Key out they been playing better

If you shoot the 3 as bad as we did today you won’t win many games

Team looked slow and lacked energy today. Don’t know if 3 games this week plus putting the energy into the NW had affects or what

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

Up to this point this team is Brads greatest failure. Perhaps if we could see the behind the scenes situation I’d say the opposite, but from a distance…massively underachieving group that doesn’t reflect their coach’s culture.

He's playing three freshman significant minutes, he head one of his non freshman (Goode) insured fot 4/5 of the year, the PG he started the year with bailed, he replaced an All American, all five starters, four seniors, and their 6th man on one off season. They're one win from 20. The UCLA and Texas games raised expectations to an unrealistic level.

 

[fatboyslim]

Up to this point this team is Brads greatest failure. Perhaps if we could see the behind the scenes situation I’d say the opposite, but from a distance…massively underachieving group that doesn’t reflect their coach’s culture.

This is really saying something being that his best team didn't make it out of the first weekend of the tournament. I think I agree with you considering the expectations but it's really close with that 2021 team. I still can't get over how that thing fizzled out so quickly.

 

[fuggles]

Again did Goode or RJ shoot one ?

Goode 0-2

 

[STATS GUY]

Not to give them any excuses, but the four games in eight days and having to mount huge comebacks in two straight games caught up with them.

Then dont get behind. Were we up 6 -0? They just laid down.

 

[illinitiger]

I kinda like the game thread when we talked that this was BU masterfully throwing the game for a better outcome in tournament....at least it made me feel better about the loss..

 

[zentrails]

Again did Goode or RJ shoot one ?

Goode shot a couple and missed them.

 

[21ChampaignSt]

My dime store analysis:

We don't have a way to assert our will or set the tone on offense. We don't have a Kofi to work the ball to or an Ayo to run a two man game with. The closest we get to that is setting up some action to iso the hot hand. Which is a terribly inconsistent way to get points.

The other thing, which is related to the first, is that our offense influences how hard we play on defense. If our guys are having rough games offensively, they're not engaged on defense. Ideally you want your defense to fuel your offense since it's something that theoretically is more consistent game tob game, court to court.

There are still a few difficult ways this team came salvage this season.

 

[FloridaMan]

Sorry in advance, but not posting any comments in the game thread have left me with things to get off my chest.

There are many very talented pieces, but this just is not a good team; and that is on both the players and staff. For whatever reason, the staff has not been able to motivate these guys to play consistently hard and smart, as a team. I'm pretty sure it has not instructed them to go out, start every game with low energy, and jack 30 3 pointers as a sub-30% shooting team. Or consistently shoot bad shots and throw the ball away after cutting deficits to 1 point late in games. BU, specifically, has proven the past 4 seasons that he knows what it takes to win.

I think this is a prime example of guys playing only for themselves. We have several who think they are NBA level players who do not understand that the appropriate mindset and decision making are part of being a professional-maybe even more so than talent alone-JMO. I've never been so frustrated watching an Illini team in my life, and I've watched a lot of them. Really disappointing results from a team that showed much promise early in the season. It has yet to put together a full game against a quality opponent. If it hasn't happened by the end of February, the likelihood it happens over the course of the next month are slim to none. The early bad halves could be explained by new guys trying to get on the same page, etc. and the comebacks against UCLA and TX have carried them all season. But this team has not passed the eye test since at least the Missouri game, and we all know what was going on around that time. They have never fully recovered. Again, JMO.

The talent is absolutely at a level to be a top 25, 3-6 seed tournament team. The results will not be anywhere near that. Maybe it is a small miracle the staff has squeezed as many wins in the B10 as they have, because we sure do not look like top half of the standings team. We just made a team that, from many accounts has quit on the season, look absolutely great. The players play like they cannot wait for the season to end, and that makes many who follower them feel the same way. They will all get that sooner rather than later I'm afraid. Go ahead a roast away, but this is how I see it from my vantage. Huge wasted opportunity by all involved so far this year.