And they only shot 70% against Texas Tech. That’s not terrible, but only at the fringe of what I consider acceptable. Really need closer to 75%.
Alabama 90, Illinois 86 Postgame
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LouHenson
- Naples Florida
I hope we can get 2 of the big 3 left (non con), but the 1-8 record in such games under BU will always make me very unsure we can do that? If we lose both UConn and UT, the tOSU game will be very very critical after 2 big loses. They need to find a way to win one of those I think to not really be playing seed catch up all year?
If both teams made all of their FT’s we still lose by 1.
Oats is correct. Free Throws. We are just as good as Alabama. What they did against Purdue in their 2nd half is how we played in the 2nd half last night. It was a heck of a game. I wished that Kylan would have played the first half like he did in the second half.
Was able to make it to the game and Illinois fans showed out at the UC. Great crowd, loud at times.
Brad hit on pretty much everything in the post game presser I had thoughts about. Bama with some nice adjustments coming out of the half and really put some pressure on us. Forced us into some tough shots and when we were actually open couldn’t hit anything during that drought. Stoj and Boswell need to be hunting for shots earlier.
FREE throws. Bama played physical but seemed to spread the fouls around somehow. They didn’t really let us get into booty ball/take advantage of matchups down low as much as I’d expected. Brad was heated and stewing on the sidelines at times. Thought he was going to get T’d up but never crossed that line.
Freshman were ok. Mirk was good in the first half but really didn’t do much in the second. Wagler had an overall forgettable game but I have to remind myself he’s still learning the college game/physicality. Ben does get a lot of heat from this board but just seems like he can’t get that momentum 3 to fall when we’re on a run.
Bama made the winning plays down the stretch and had a closer in Philon.
Could say more but I’ll leave it at that. Still loads of potential with this team. Nothing really matters until March. Let’s get everyone healthy and see where our chips fall.
Go Illini!
Brad hit on pretty much everything in the post game presser I had thoughts about. Bama with some nice adjustments coming out of the half and really put some pressure on us. Forced us into some tough shots and when we were actually open couldn’t hit anything during that drought. Stoj and Boswell need to be hunting for shots earlier.
FREE throws. Bama played physical but seemed to spread the fouls around somehow. They didn’t really let us get into booty ball/take advantage of matchups down low as much as I’d expected. Brad was heated and stewing on the sidelines at times. Thought he was going to get T’d up but never crossed that line.
Freshman were ok. Mirk was good in the first half but really didn’t do much in the second. Wagler had an overall forgettable game but I have to remind myself he’s still learning the college game/physicality. Ben does get a lot of heat from this board but just seems like he can’t get that momentum 3 to fall when we’re on a run.
Bama made the winning plays down the stretch and had a closer in Philon.
Could say more but I’ll leave it at that. Still loads of potential with this team. Nothing really matters until March. Let’s get everyone healthy and see where our chips fall.
Go Illini!
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Shooting 79% from the line as a team coming in and 76% even after a bad night there. It’s a good FT shooting team, they just did not make them tonight, sadly. It happens.
We needed to rebound and defend better than we did. We also shot 2/13 to start the second half. Alabama made a lot of deep threes. We weren’t ready for how physical they played and made mistakes.
All in all a game I think they will learn a great deal from. We weren’t going to go undefeated, and I think this ends up being a good experience for this group.
We needed to rebound and defend better than we did. We also shot 2/13 to start the second half. Alabama made a lot of deep threes. We weren’t ready for how physical they played and made mistakes.
All in all a game I think they will learn a great deal from. We weren’t going to go undefeated, and I think this ends up being a good experience for this group.
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
I replayed the game this morning and paid close attention to Bol Bowen and his play on offense was setting screens and throwing his butt out of legal limits especially when an Illini was close to him.....no illegal screens called.......when he played defense it was holding , pushing and fouling on every play under the premise that they can't call all the fouls....and they sure didn't....
this game was there for the taking............
we missed way too many FT's as almost every post in this thread has posted......
we missed way too many bunnies or shots within 5 feet of the basket..............
first game this year we got into foul trouble...........funny that bama had 6 fouls in the first 7 minutes of the second half then the fouls started to even up as always in a d j bald head ref called game..............there's enough evidence showing he is inept as a ref.....
has anyone actually seen the lane violation on replay ????...........I replayed over and over and still haven't seen it.......a major turning point in the game and another phantom call.....i said early last night that Szelc always calls against the Illini and he proved that last night......
with all that being said we would have won the game if we had made our average FT % for this year . but we didn't........
for anyone to say the refs had no bearing on the game's outcome . I bet if you took a poll of the Illini players this morning it would be a unanimous hells yeah they did.................I really really believe it.......JMHO...............
this game was there for the taking............
we missed way too many FT's as almost every post in this thread has posted......
we missed way too many bunnies or shots within 5 feet of the basket..............
first game this year we got into foul trouble...........funny that bama had 6 fouls in the first 7 minutes of the second half then the fouls started to even up as always in a d j bald head ref called game..............there's enough evidence showing he is inept as a ref.....
has anyone actually seen the lane violation on replay ????...........I replayed over and over and still haven't seen it.......a major turning point in the game and another phantom call.....i said early last night that Szelc always calls against the Illini and he proved that last night......
with all that being said we would have won the game if we had made our average FT % for this year . but we didn't........
for anyone to say the refs had no bearing on the game's outcome . I bet if you took a poll of the Illini players this morning it would be a unanimous hells yeah they did.................I really really believe it.......JMHO...............
Both he and Wagler haven’t played nearly as well in the two marquee matchups as they have against the cupcakes. They’ve shot only 31.8% (14-44) in the former games while 53.8% (35-65) in the former. Not surprising at all. I do think they both need to make the adjustment that they can’t do the same things against the top teams as they do with the lesser teams. Just isn’t going to work. That said, while the shooting was slightly worse against Alabama than Texas Tech (6-22 versus 8-22, so neither game was good), the other stats were better against Alabama, with the big one being only 1 TO (and 5 assists) versus 6 (and only 1 assist) against TT.
Mirk and Keaton are still trying to figure things out at the college level. People have to give them some time. I definitely thought both players seemed less sped up last night than they did against TT. Any disappointment people might be feeling about either of their play last night will likely be buried by the avalanche of good things they do this year.
In all honesty should not be losing to Alabama really ever. They are a football school. I know they have better players than they probably have in years past but pretty embarrassing in my opinion.
Several things stood out to me. We were not very physical. Early on we showed a little more toughness but none the second half. If you can’t guard you had better play some aggressive zone, which we know Brad won’t do except on occasion. If you miss FT and shoot poorly you had better be able to stop your opponent from scoring once in a while. Nate Oats knew how to disrupt our offense out front, we didn’t adjust.
This is a glass half-full take, but some things to consider… I think we got Alabama’s “B+” game while we played our “C+” game and still nearly won. Tide shot above their season average from 3, punched above their weight on the boards & defense, massive game from Bristow while Philon played like a lottery pick. We did get some home cooking…but bricked free throws and went on a bad stagnant stretch on offense in the 2nd half. No-show Mirk late. Quiet night for KW. Bad shooting night from 3 & foul trouble for Kylan. Tomi still getting up to speed. If we split uconn/tennessee, we’re in great shape.
I came away from this game glass half full.
Bama is a tough matchup for us on our best night with their quickness and speed. I said before the game we would get Bamas best shot and we did. Hawk Harrelson always said it’s not who you play it’s when you play them. They came out like their coach had been busting their *** for a week about rebounding and toughness. I doubt they play a tougher, more physical game all year.
And Philon missed a front end in the last minute against Purdue that cost them the game. I knew we would get an A+ effort from him and he would make plays down the stretch.
And we looked like a team that hadn’t practiced together much and still aren’t whole. Lots of defensive miscues and we clearly weren’t on the same page enough to run anything more complicated than iso ball. I said before the game that if we got 35 minutes of Ivisics I liked our chances. Well, we only got 31 and both really ineffective.
And after all of that, we make a few dang free throws and we win! We’ve got 9ish days and one tune up before our next big test. We heal up, build some rapport with Tomi as the fulcrum of our offense and get Petrovic in some ball sceens, and build some more rapport defensively think we are going to be really really good.
We hit our ceiling I think we are F4 good.
Bama is a tough matchup for us on our best night with their quickness and speed. I said before the game we would get Bamas best shot and we did. Hawk Harrelson always said it’s not who you play it’s when you play them. They came out like their coach had been busting their *** for a week about rebounding and toughness. I doubt they play a tougher, more physical game all year.
And Philon missed a front end in the last minute against Purdue that cost them the game. I knew we would get an A+ effort from him and he would make plays down the stretch.
And we looked like a team that hadn’t practiced together much and still aren’t whole. Lots of defensive miscues and we clearly weren’t on the same page enough to run anything more complicated than iso ball. I said before the game that if we got 35 minutes of Ivisics I liked our chances. Well, we only got 31 and both really ineffective.
And after all of that, we make a few dang free throws and we win! We’ve got 9ish days and one tune up before our next big test. We heal up, build some rapport with Tomi as the fulcrum of our offense and get Petrovic in some ball sceens, and build some more rapport defensively think we are going to be really really good.
We hit our ceiling I think we are F4 good.
LouHenson
- Naples Florida
I agree very much on the lane violation. If you are going to call that so late in the game it better be obvious (like a step in before the shooter releases), that was a big call to make at that point. It for sure made the last 2 minutes very different for Illinois had they got that rebound and then scored on the next possession.
That is an ENORMOUS "if". Those will be our first two games in enemy territory. Not sure how the young guys will react. Yesterday, seemed like a deer in headlights once we took a punch in the mouth and fell behind.
I thought our effort was ok, but bama's was clearly better. Biggest problem to me was between the ears. Missed free throws and open looks isn't an effort issue. To win, we needed more guys pissed at missed shots and determined to win. Some of our older guys showed the grit you need to beat a hungry, talented team like that, but we needed more.
Good point, but if we hit all our free throws we’re up at the end of the game and they’re sending us to the line and have to hit 3’s to catchup.
I agree bad free throw shooting nights happen, and it sucks this one contributed to a loss. So I’m not going to get too worked up over last night’s FT shooting. But I’m also not going to anoint them as a good free throw shooting team yet. They have shot 81.7% in three blowouts against cupcakes, which is great; but, they’ve shot only 64.4% in the other two games. Again, small sample size, but may not be the strength that an overall 75.6% might seem to indicate.
Fully agree with rest of your post. You play these types of noncon games to learn about yourself. Result wasn’t what we would have liked to see, but a lot of good lessons to be learned from the game. Sometimes you grow more from a loss than a win. This definitely has that potential.
All of the talk about free throws, but if we made 75% that only gives us 3 more points.
What about if the defense is 4-6 points better? Not asking a lot as that’s basically just a couple possessions. What if rebounding is a better? Say we get 2-3 more rebounds, those are additional possessions. Or if we make a couple less mistakes on offense. With those things we are talking about a difference of 15-20 points (or more).
What about if the defense is 4-6 points better? Not asking a lot as that’s basically just a couple possessions. What if rebounding is a better? Say we get 2-3 more rebounds, those are additional possessions. Or if we make a couple less mistakes on offense. With those things we are talking about a difference of 15-20 points (or more).
Oh I get it. It’s certainly one of those things that’s volatile by nature, though. You won’t shoot 79% every game, some games you might shoot 95% and some you might shoot 60%. Will have to see if level of comp is actually a tell here, because you are right, the poorer free throw shooting performances came in two big games.
My main takeaway from last night is a reminder that over the last few years we struggle against top tier teams with athletic bigs.
What also concerned me was that only Boswell and Petrovic were able to drive to the hole/create their own shot against this team.
IMO we have two very good players and a bunch of good players. It’s very early in the season but I’m projecting now that this is likely a sweet 16 team unless at least one more guy progresses to be able to create his own shot and have the ability like the two aforementioned players to carry the team on their back offensively against elite athletic teams.
What also concerned me was that only Boswell and Petrovic were able to drive to the hole/create their own shot against this team.
IMO we have two very good players and a bunch of good players. It’s very early in the season but I’m projecting now that this is likely a sweet 16 team unless at least one more guy progresses to be able to create his own shot and have the ability like the two aforementioned players to carry the team on their back offensively against elite athletic teams.
Learning experience?
What? Are these guys in the third grade?
They're paid millions.
What? Are these guys in the third grade?
They're paid millions.
You think Bama got the benefit of calls? If so, horrible take. And that was clearly a lane violation. I also hope you would be wrong about the unanimous poll that the players think so.
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