I’m to the point with Keaton where I actually thought tonight was like a C+/B- game from him.
That’s how good that dude is. And the flex in the first half? The young man is finding that swagger. Fun to watch him grow
Illinois 81, Rutgers 55 Postgame
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I’m to the point with Keaton where I actually thought tonight was like a C+/B- game from him.
That’s how good that dude is. And the flex in the first half? The young man is finding that swagger. Fun to watch him grow
I think we beat them fairly easily, but maybe it is because the only time I have watched them play was the Minny game.
I wouldn’t say we were great offensively but pretty solid. A couple bad 3s a couple good looks that were also just way off.
KP has it as his worst offensive game since UConn albeit only slightly worse than his PSU game.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
For us, that was a slightly below average offensive performance. For a team like Michigan St, that would have been one of their best offensive performance of the year so far (opponent adjusted).
I’d say they were kind of coasting a bit, sure. It felt like they were making a concerted effort to get Tomi those 3 point attempts in the 2nd half. Maybe they were tinkering with some stuff. There were a couple sloppy plays…but hard to complain about a 7 turnover game.
Overall for the game, I thought they got great looks from 3, and just didn’t shoot it well. There were a couple of them that weren’t great looks…but mostly good offense that lead to good 3 point attempts.
4 fgs for us between the 15:00 and 2:30 marks in the second half is pretty awful against Rutgers. Gotta be 40 mins on Sunday.
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Disciplined shot selection wins games.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Our last game: 26 point win against bad team
Iowa’s last game: 3 point loss against bad team
Our Q1 record: 3-3
Iowa’s Q1 record: 0-2
But yes, it is us who needs to play better on Sunday.
2-2 since Caleb showed up and the Bears had the ball last with a chance to win it in all four. Things may just be changing.***Packers game
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Love a beat down like that! My only complaint is the crowd … WOW, was it bad. We shouldn’t need the Krush to have an ounce of atmosphere while we’re putting on a show like that. Took wine and cheese to new levels.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
You don’t have to be a constant defender like this, lol. We need to not going on long scoring droughts at Iowa … that’s not a hot take.
It’s just so hysterical.
Win @Penn State by 8:
“Super disappointing performance. Should’ve won by 20.”
Rutgers line set at 22.5:
“Absolutely have to cover. If not, we’re completely cooked.”
Halftime lead of 27 points:
“Need to win by 40. Otherwise, disappointing result.”
Win 81-55:
“Horrible outcome. We led by 27 at half and only won by 26?? We’re so doomed.”
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
But is that a thing? Do we struggle with long scoring droughts often? Has that been a consistent problem this year? Have we given up any big second half leads this year?
I’ll just point out a few things:
1. Fans have this weird urge to watch a game and say “if we play like that again next time, we’ll definitely lose.”
But we don’t play like that again next time. Because every game is a little different. And our struggle tonight will likely be a different, unpredictable struggle on Sunday.
And to pretend that how we played in the second half of this game, a half that we started with a 27 point lead, will be at all indicative of the second half against Iowa is just odd to me.
2. Are all fan bases like this? Does every fan base watch their team beat a conference opponent by 26 points, cover the spread by 4, and then become more concerned about their next opponent?
I didn’t think either was a hot take, but “you don’t have to be a constant defender” is kinda spicy tho lol
We held Rutgers to their 2nd lowest score so far this season. This includes games with Purdue and Michigan where they scored more.
We won by a larger margin than Purdue did. We beat them by the 3rd largest margin to date.
Didn’t foul much, rebounded, made free throws.
Comfortable win.
We won by a larger margin than Purdue did. We beat them by the 3rd largest margin to date.
Didn’t foul much, rebounded, made free throws.
Comfortable win.
Irrelevant? If anything it serves as great practice material. When you’re up 27 at half, and everyone knows the game’s over with 99% certainty…. it’s natural human instinct to not come out with the same intensity as when the score is 0-0. It’s supposed to happen that way.
From there the only thing that matters is to not let them back in the game in any way, shape, or form — which we didn’t.
This is literally the closest Rutgers got the entire second half:
Really no idea how that’s sparking so much outrage from certain posters.
Additionally, we only lost the second half score by a mere one point. By no means did they just run us over. I thought defense was solid throughout.
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Illini in OC
In. The. Alley.
Not the same ol’ Bears
(Regardless of the outcome, we’ll all be biting our nails for 3+ hours)
TBH - Great that Bears are relevant again even though I think BJ should pipe down a bit.
Welcome Back.
May the better team win.,
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There's a lot of complaints for whatever reason.
In several games this year, Rutgers has come out very flat and played better in the second half. It's one of the reasons they have lost so many games.
In several games this year, Rutgers has come out very flat and played better in the second half. It's one of the reasons they have lost so many games.
Fun team to watch for sure. I'm 39 now and keep telling myself to enjoy these games and not stress so much!
I'm NOT selling my AS stock quite yet because the kid is magic driving to the hoop and in the lane. I tell my two daughters every game that it is mind-blowing to see the skillset AS has compared to his dad! Peja was an all-time great shooter and AS outside shot is ugly. That said he gets out in transition and makes layups consistently with a seemingly endless variety of finishes. He also has a good touch on midrange shots from the post. I'm OK with him taking a couple threes a game, kids gotta hit a couple eventually even with that shot.
KW is wild. He's got it all. My daughters (12 and almost 14) both play travel bball and travel soccer and have potential and it's so awesome to be able to say "this kid wasn't ranked super high, didn't have the offers, was passed over and now look at him! There's no secret sauce to success. It's just showing up everyday and doing the little things over and over. Champions and winners are made of heart, not muscle."
Z may be my favorite player on the team. Probably not getting the tick he quite deserves but you'd never know it watching him on the bench cheering on his brother and teammates. Oh, and how much fun is it watching him spike 3-4 shots a game like he's playing volleyball. Crazy to me that he seems to have 2x the vertical of his brother LOL.
Tomi has a nice skillset offensively but could certainly use practicing to turn over his left shoulder 5-10 minutes a night, every night. There are multiple times every game where he seems to get tunnel-visioned on going over right shoulder and if he had that counter he'd be way more difficult to stop. I think it's getting in the scouting report for other teams.
DM is also a lot of fun and young but his motor is nuts. Plays a bit sped up sometimes but it's hard to complain with his hustle and age.
Boswell is great. Almost got put on his @$$ one time but really is smart with most of his decision-making. I think he has a shot or two a game where he just short-arms it though; shoot it with confidence man!
Jake and Ben are glue guys and culture builders. Feel bad also for Petrovic, just can't seem to get it going. I do wish Brad would get him more time because I think it's a process adjusting and think there is some sort of mental block for him. Blew a lay-up that was open and also passed a 2-3 ft. opportunity at the rim.
I'll say Michigan looks really, really good and I am not sure how well we match up with them. Also I don't think our defense is quite as good as it's "looked" lately. Penn State and Rutgers couldn't throw the ball in the ocean, and I've been a Illini fan long enough to know some players (teams) are going to be red-hot against us. Guess we will see.
I'm NOT selling my AS stock quite yet because the kid is magic driving to the hoop and in the lane. I tell my two daughters every game that it is mind-blowing to see the skillset AS has compared to his dad! Peja was an all-time great shooter and AS outside shot is ugly. That said he gets out in transition and makes layups consistently with a seemingly endless variety of finishes. He also has a good touch on midrange shots from the post. I'm OK with him taking a couple threes a game, kids gotta hit a couple eventually even with that shot.
KW is wild. He's got it all. My daughters (12 and almost 14) both play travel bball and travel soccer and have potential and it's so awesome to be able to say "this kid wasn't ranked super high, didn't have the offers, was passed over and now look at him! There's no secret sauce to success. It's just showing up everyday and doing the little things over and over. Champions and winners are made of heart, not muscle."
Z may be my favorite player on the team. Probably not getting the tick he quite deserves but you'd never know it watching him on the bench cheering on his brother and teammates. Oh, and how much fun is it watching him spike 3-4 shots a game like he's playing volleyball. Crazy to me that he seems to have 2x the vertical of his brother LOL.
Tomi has a nice skillset offensively but could certainly use practicing to turn over his left shoulder 5-10 minutes a night, every night. There are multiple times every game where he seems to get tunnel-visioned on going over right shoulder and if he had that counter he'd be way more difficult to stop. I think it's getting in the scouting report for other teams.
DM is also a lot of fun and young but his motor is nuts. Plays a bit sped up sometimes but it's hard to complain with his hustle and age.
Boswell is great. Almost got put on his @$$ one time but really is smart with most of his decision-making. I think he has a shot or two a game where he just short-arms it though; shoot it with confidence man!
Jake and Ben are glue guys and culture builders. Feel bad also for Petrovic, just can't seem to get it going. I do wish Brad would get him more time because I think it's a process adjusting and think there is some sort of mental block for him. Blew a lay-up that was open and also passed a 2-3 ft. opportunity at the rim.
I'll say Michigan looks really, really good and I am not sure how well we match up with them. Also I don't think our defense is quite as good as it's "looked" lately. Penn State and Rutgers couldn't throw the ball in the ocean, and I've been a Illini fan long enough to know some players (teams) are going to be red-hot against us. Guess we will see.
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OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
For whatever reason, there is a strangely defensive posture on this board this winter where any comments that aren’t exceedingly positive are torn down at a high rate. I get that’s pretty much the general climate of society today, but it’s OK to point out good things and things that can improve for the next game.
Yes, all fanbases are insane. That's a universal truth.
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