Pregame: Illinois vs Purdue, Friday, March 7th, 7:00pm CT, FOX
- Status
TKR throws more elbows than an MMA fighter, yet never gets called for an offensive foul. His go to offensive more is to shove a defender to create space, then flip a shot over him. The main way to stop him is keep him from getting the ball where he wants it - through ball pressure on Smith and Loyer.
Love that Purdue plays Rutgers on Tuesday and we get a full week to prep and rest for this one. It’s been far too long since we’ve beaten Purdue and that needs to change on Friday
RichardKeenesCousin
Richard Keene's Cousin
Plus bring the hard double IMMEDIATELY!
WHAT?! Say it ain't so...
In honor (?) of your post, and St Paddy's coming up shortly, I share this wee bit o'humor:
Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey".
Miraculously, a parking place appeared. Paddy looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one."
I thought I heard sh**head was going to retire before the season started. I was depressed for two days the first time I saw him on the court. These morons together would be the worst officiated game in basketball history. I'd rather grab some refs from the YMCA youth league in town than any of them.
Did you watch their Indiana game?
The first time he does it, have the Illini fall to the floor clutching his chest and stay there until the refs agree to a review. Even they don't call anything then, they will be forced to address it going forward. Give the crowd a chance to get into game and fire up the Krush.
1m4tr
Cliffmas
I’d rather TKR get 25 than let Smith or Loyer go red hot from 3.
ginabackes00
CrazedUIFan
Cylinder! /s
Yes, and if we can just make TKR inefficient. Make him take 20 shots to get 25 points or something like that. And then shut everyone else down.
Against good teams, Purdue has needed superstar performances from Smith and TKR to win. Otherwise they are pretty vulnerable.
Similar to the Michigan game, TKR can get his but need to focus on shutting everyone else down. I believe we tried a similar strategy with Edey, but the issue there was he would be able to get his own misses and have multiple chances at the rim. Also, size did not bother him in the least since he was always bigger than the person he was matched up against. I don’t believe TKR can do the same. Tomi will alter shots and we will need White, Boswell, and Ben to crash the glass. We got more than a punchers chance which feels good!
TKR travels a lot too. Like every time he goes to work in the paint
I disagree. This is what they want - an open three. TKR is bothersome, but if Purdue goes off from the arc it is fatal. That's what got UCLA in the second half.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
I know people will probably jump me for this, but Purdue basketball reminds me a lot of Illinois football under Bielema. They don't beat themselves, they always seem to be strong in situational items, and they often figure out a way to win a game they maybe shouldn't win. I think Painter and Bielema actually have a lot of similarities.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
They did in Bloomington. Hopefully they repeat that performance in Champaign.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
True, but that's going to happen every so often in basketball. Just too many games to NOT expect one "crap the bed" game each season when you're playing 35-38 games if you make the second weekend of the tournament. You just hope they don't happen at really bad times.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Paddy moved to a new neighborhood and went into a pub he'd never been. He was alone yet ordered three pints of Guinness to his table.
Barman says "why you doing that? They will be colder and fresher if you just order another when the first one is done".
Paddy replies, "oh I used to drink with my two best mates, but they both moved away. So now I get three, I drink one for me and I drink two in their memory".
This goes on for some months, and ordering three becomes a regular thing with the barman at the new pub. But one day, Paddy comes in and just orders two pints. Barman is immediately taken aback and assumes the worst. "I'm so sorry for your loss Paddy, did one of your mates pass away"?
"Oh no", says Paddy, "they're both fine. I've just quit drinking".
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This was posted in a Tweet or something previously, but it has become a bit of a problem that we keep losing these ultra-hyped home games. Just looking at Wikipedia since the 2021-22 season, these are games I would have considered "really big home games" that had a lot of hype leading up to them. You'll notice it excludes some top 25 opponents in Champaign, but these were games where I genuinely felt like there was a huge buzz leading up to them among our fans, for one reason or another:
2021-22
L 79-83 vs. #11 Arizona
L 88-96 in 2OT vs. #4 Purdue
W 80-67 vs. #11 Wisconsin
2023-24
L 64-71 vs. #4 Marquette
L 71-77 vs. #3 Purdue
2024-25
L 64-66 vs. #1 Tennessee
L 65-79 vs. #11 Michigan State
Safe to say, it's time to actually reward our home fans with coming through for a win in one of these. Add on what it will mean for our seeding and the unacceptably long losing streak vs. Purdue (5 straight losses and 2 straight in Champaign), and this just needs to be a game that we find a way to win, period.
2021-22
L 79-83 vs. #11 Arizona
L 88-96 in 2OT vs. #4 Purdue
W 80-67 vs. #11 Wisconsin
2023-24
L 64-71 vs. #4 Marquette
L 71-77 vs. #3 Purdue
2024-25
L 64-66 vs. #1 Tennessee
L 65-79 vs. #11 Michigan State
Safe to say, it's time to actually reward our home fans with coming through for a win in one of these. Add on what it will mean for our seeding and the unacceptably long losing streak vs. Purdue (5 straight losses and 2 straight in Champaign), and this just needs to be a game that we find a way to win, period.
Absolutely love Boswell on Smith. KJ is gonna have his hands full with Loyer but he’s an interesting case—ultra efficient, almost to point you wonder why he doesn’t shoot more. Interesting to see how we defend TKR, he’s played well against bigger 5s and I’m not sure white/ben can contain him.
Outside of those guys, very pedestrian roster. Honestly, I think the game comes down to rebounding. If we can play even 80% as well as we did on the glass at Michigan, we win. Purdue’s rebounding numbers are dreadful as are their 2 pt defense numbers. We have to continue driving, I think Boswell and White can feast inside.
Outside of those guys, very pedestrian roster. Honestly, I think the game comes down to rebounding. If we can play even 80% as well as we did on the glass at Michigan, we win. Purdue’s rebounding numbers are dreadful as are their 2 pt defense numbers. We have to continue driving, I think Boswell and White can feast inside.
- Status