I agree regarding Chris. Also, having Chris Lowery on his staff is a plus, especially when it comes to defense. NW adjusted its defense when the Illini started abusing it inside with Tomi and Morez. Yes, they gave up three-point attempts -- which is counterintuitive going against the Illini -- but most of them were those tough step-backs from KJ or looks that were several feet beyond the arc. From where I sat (a few feet from my TV), it appeared that NW was able to get the matchups they wanted and the Illini could not.
Northwestern 70, Illinois 66 OT Postgame
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All points the about Morez are possible, especially being targeted for foul shooting. But we saw Morez in the 2nd half where we extended our lead. This isn't strictly hypothetical. I think bully ball is tougher with Tomi and Morez able to help in the paint area too.
Ben was getting bullied for sure, but also was getting put on skates on the perimeter so he was giving a huge cushion that led to wide open mid range looks too. He was the worst of all worlds on D and of course his off night made him a bust all around.
There is nothing I saw when the two lineups were on the floor that makes me think Ben over Morez was the better approach.
Understatement
I love DGL but NW went to NBA-style offense of hunting mismatches. They would have eaten him up on switches. I would agree on Morez. Brad said he was looking for offense but I actually think offense played better when him and Tomi were in together.
+1 As Brad pointed out the Illini got zero offensive rebounds from the 14 misses from 3 by Ben and Will and this is unacceptable.
More reason to play Morez.
i was pretty bothered yesterday but shitting on hamer for no reason is a choice. Our defence wasnt why we lost, we had an insanely anomalous three point shooting game ben and will going 1/15 from three in total is about as unlikely as possible so we should be fine, but i still want to see morez getting 15-20 minutes a game atleast
What's wrong? I'd be shocked if this is anymore than flirting with a .500 big ten season. A very reasonable estimate is that it ends up there. (or possibly worse but I put it there just to estimate where the league possibly might stand with tourney bids).
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And take that ranking off the name.
#19? Silly. This team won't be anywhere near that mark. Making a witless view the unreasonable standard early just adds more to the substandard situation.
#19? Silly. This team won't be anywhere near that mark. Making a witless view the unreasonable standard early just adds more to the substandard situation.
"He knows what to do moving forward. . ."
I've seen this comment every year BU has been here. Unfortunately, the games are played in the present. Knowing what you should have done - shoulda, woulda, coulda, isn't much help. The next two games will tell us how much BU learned from this one. Sometimes you can be too stubborn to learn anything.
I've seen this comment every year BU has been here. Unfortunately, the games are played in the present. Knowing what you should have done - shoulda, woulda, coulda, isn't much help. The next two games will tell us how much BU learned from this one. Sometimes you can be too stubborn to learn anything.
DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
This. Theyāve shown they can play together in high-low action. Morez definitely clogs the lane a bit for KJ and others to make plays but his value outweighs that IMO
I think this game was very much on Underwood. I haven't seen much complaint about what I felt was egregious: down 1 with 38 seconds to go, 9 second differential, Underwood waits 13 seconds and then tells the team to foul. He was that worried that a team shooting 19% from 3 for the game was going to hit one to put the game out of reach?
9 seconds is more than enough time to score, and we had a timeout left. Hold them on defense, call a timeout, and set up your play. Or even if they score, you still have plenty of time to scheme up a look. But the compounding of error is, if you're going to foul, don't waste 13 seconds just to foul an 86% FT shooter.
Add that to the awful plays coming out of timeouts, while Collins schemed up easy scores out of his timeouts, and Underwood's insistence on playing Humrichous all game on an off shooting night, and you get beat by a mediocre at best team like Northwestern. It's unacceptable.
Now that I've seen this team play, I'm far less optimistic than I was looking at the team on paper. They're simply not athletic enough. We don't have anyone capable of breaking down the defense, maybe Riley, but that's not his style of play. We don't have anyone on the wing that can guard a great athlete. These next 3 games will be interesting. Right now our only good win is Arkansas, and is Arkansas any good?
9 seconds is more than enough time to score, and we had a timeout left. Hold them on defense, call a timeout, and set up your play. Or even if they score, you still have plenty of time to scheme up a look. But the compounding of error is, if you're going to foul, don't waste 13 seconds just to foul an 86% FT shooter.
Add that to the awful plays coming out of timeouts, while Collins schemed up easy scores out of his timeouts, and Underwood's insistence on playing Humrichous all game on an off shooting night, and you get beat by a mediocre at best team like Northwestern. It's unacceptable.
Now that I've seen this team play, I'm far less optimistic than I was looking at the team on paper. They're simply not athletic enough. We don't have anyone capable of breaking down the defense, maybe Riley, but that's not his style of play. We don't have anyone on the wing that can guard a great athlete. These next 3 games will be interesting. Right now our only good win is Arkansas, and is Arkansas any good?
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DB11Headband
- Chicago Burbs
Ben made a lot of money coming here. Definitely plays a role in Brad sticking with him but you have to identify in a one game sample size that last night was not his night and need to adjust accordingly.
Any team whose go-to guys are 6-7 types like NW will pose us the most problems due to our lack of a defensive stopper at that size.
Gotta split next week at the very least. I feel good about the Wisconsin game, a much better matchup. Would be a big win and allows us to go into the TN with a lot less pressure.
Any team whose go-to guys are 6-7 types like NW will pose us the most problems due to our lack of a defensive stopper at that size.
Gotta split next week at the very least. I feel good about the Wisconsin game, a much better matchup. Would be a big win and allows us to go into the TN with a lot less pressure.
Convinced that @Indy Illini Fan hops on here after losses knowing that Brad/staff/team reads this just to light a fire under their asses 
. My guy has been super inactive in game/pregame threads this year, until now 
. My guy has been super inactive in game/pregame threads this year, until now Unlikely
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Agreed. I like how we match up with Wisky. Team needs to get to 9-3 at turn of year to feel pretty good (pre-season this was an acceptable/good outcome). The next 3 games are very important, and 2-1 during that stretch is necessary now. The loss last night takes away margin or error for this part of season. Just a very important 3 week stretch before the heart of B1G season in 2025.
For me the loss last night hurts more because of the blown 10 point lead in 2nd half, as opposed to losing to NW in general. Such a lost opportunity for a quad 1 road win.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Agreed on all accounts. If we knew this whole squad was back next year, Iād shrug off most losses and enjoy the ride. Unfortunately in this new, worse college hoops, youāre only guaranteed to watch a given player during that season. It sucks. And this was indeed as easy as it gets on the road. Short bus ride to a gym where you have MORE FANS THAN THE HOME TEAM, lol.
I literally couldnāt believe it when I saw a quote on the home page today where one of our players even MENTIONED āthe crowd getting into itā as a factor at all late in the game. That doesnāt just make them look soft (this ācrowdā was the 15 rows of NU students ā¦ so scary), itās actually pretty disrespectful to the thousands of Illini fans that showed up for these guys last night! Quotes acting like they walked into some hornetās nest delusional, lol.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Well, this is a postgame thread, so this may still hold true.Convinced that @Indy Illini Fan hops on here after losses knowing that Brad/staff/team reads this just to light a fire under their asses
I was not surprised. NU is veteran Big 10 team. The Illini are young (or at least inexperienced). The Northwestern - Illinois BB game at Welsh-Ryan is Northwestersn National Championship game every year. Illinois will be playing in late March. Northwestern will not. Hope that makes everybody feel better.
Absurd. We had TONS of open shots, Ben in particular. Smoked several layups. Lack of open shots was not the issue, making open shots was the issue.Northwestern successfully got us slowed down all night. We were unable to create open shots. We played tentatively and slow.
Maybe this has been mentioned but I'm not looking through all the posts. How was the play out of the timeout with a close game and only a couple minutes left for Will Riley to chuck an off- balance 30 footer with 12 on the shot clock?!!! One of the more bizarre play calls of the game. It was a crucial possession and that shot was directly out of a timeout. Really really bad
Quite the "if" there...
USAFILLINI
- Florida
Disappointed that we should have won but also encouraged.
Young team. First road game. Coming off of a big showcase win and a week off. Would have been very easy for us to come out flat but I thought we played hard. We just didnāt quite execute down the stretch.
But to get to overtime against an old, physical team on a night we couldnāt shoot at all (I know Ben is getting alot of hate but Will was also 0-6 from 3) shows me we have some bite. If last years team shot like that I think they lose that game by 15 because they just couldnāt get any stops. And KJ is an absolute killer.
We will learn and grow from this one. BIG is a total meat grinder this year so we will likely drop a few more of these. But should be a dangerous team come March.
Need to at least split the next 2 though.
Young team. First road game. Coming off of a big showcase win and a week off. Would have been very easy for us to come out flat but I thought we played hard. We just didnāt quite execute down the stretch.
But to get to overtime against an old, physical team on a night we couldnāt shoot at all (I know Ben is getting alot of hate but Will was also 0-6 from 3) shows me we have some bite. If last years team shot like that I think they lose that game by 15 because they just couldnāt get any stops. And KJ is an absolute killer.
We will learn and grow from this one. BIG is a total meat grinder this year so we will likely drop a few more of these. But should be a dangerous team come March.
Need to at least split the next 2 though.
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