Pregame: Illinois at Rutgers, Wednesday, February 5th, 7:30pm CT, BTN

[jumpingjack]

I can say with certainty, that was not what caused the end of Jamar Smith's career at Illinois. If only he didn't struggle with alcoholism and take actions that ruined multiple lives because of it. Maybe my biggest what if as an Illini fan. Right up there with What if the Bruce Pearl affair never happened and what if James Augustine was actually allowed to play in the National Championship game. Sigh...

Man... Freshman year sober Jamar Smith... Can you imagine him on this team? A volume 48% shooter from 3? In our current system, he might average over 5 made threes a game.

This whole discussion inspired me to go do some googling. I'm glad to see that both he and Carlwell are still involved in hoops and that Jamar managed to turn the trajectory of his life around eventually. They were both a helluva lot of fun to watch before the accident.

 

[jumpingjack]

Rutgers just texted ticket holders saying that it’s a blackout tonight. Pretty odd to wait until the afternoon of the game to announce it.

They should take some of that sweet NIL cash they dropped on Harper and pay the electrical bill.

 

[BBlock24]

Looks like tonight it’s a quad 2 game as Nutgers fell from 75 to 76 overnight.

I’m NET illiterate, but would a close win by Illinois allow RU to move up a spot or two?

 

[Illinialldayeveryday]

Looks like tonight it’s a quad 2 game as Nutgers fell from 75 to 76 overnight.

I’m NET illiterate, but would a close win by Illinois allow RU to move up a spot or two?

I would guess not. Need them to beat some decent teams by some margins at some point. Just not us.

 

[Dan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1887248172977688686

https://twitter.com/x/status/1887238808900673702

 

[RollChief]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1887248172977688686

https://twitter.com/x/status/1887238808900673702

There's some camaraderie for ya!!

 

[jumpingjack]

As long as we continue to use Tomi in the high screen pnr. In the second half against Ohio state it changed the game when Tomi started looking for back door cutters instead of handing it off all the time. We got some easy baskets and completely disrupted how Ohio state was defending it while opening up more options for us on that action. With his height he can see and pass over the trap/hedge on the pnr and easily pass to any open cutters. I hope to see more of this the rest of the season.

Tomi might be the best passer on the team. Great timing and touch on the ball.

 

[Illinialldayeveryday]

Rutgers is super young. I actually think we play halfway decent and Bailey doesn't go off we take care of of this pretty easy.

 

[aaeismacgychel]

Looks like tonight it’s a quad 2 game as Nutgers fell from 75 to 76 overnight.

I’m NET illiterate, but would a close win by Illinois allow RU to move up a spot or two?

Illinois is about a 6pt favorite, so a very close loss should slightly elevate Rutgers' efficiency numbers. That said, there's still a lot of games left, and the NET is extremely fluid. So let's just go out there, play a great game, and do what we need to do to bring home the win.

 

[DB11Headband]

Rutgers is super young. I actually think we play halfway decent and Bailey doesn't go off we take care of of this pretty easy.

My thoughts exactly. I foresee a comfortable victory tonight.