Illinois 75, Iowa 69 Postgame

[I-L-L 1318]

Z’s minutes are fine where they are imo. He is playing the best ball of his collegiate career, staff is doing a phenomenal job utilizing him without overextending him

 

[stevej64]

Z’s minutes are fine where they are imo. He is playing the best ball of his collegiate career, staff is doing a phenomenal job utilizing him without overextending him

Agree, a good way to destroy Tomi’s confidence would be to bench him from starting lineup. Plus Big Z is a hell of a boost off the bench.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Great win. I thought the refs were even and we got some crazy no calls in our favor down the stretch but those two traveling calls on Z were ridiculous. The first one you can clearly see the player slamming into his shoulder from behind and then Z goes down. He's not a flopper and he rarely falls. I was skipping through game breaks so didn't bother to watch the replay of the Wagler's hook and hold but I assume that was also horseshit. The refs weren't the ones who granted Iowa unlimited open layups and dunks and 3 pointers. Give credit to Iowa for hitting their shots.

Every time Wagler does something clutch, I just shake my head in disbelief and wonder where his ceiling is. I absolutely love how stoic he is as well -- you absolutely cannot get under his skin. I'm still on team Humrichous stop shooting -- he had a wide open look today that would have taken the air out of the building and clanked it. I have a new theory that Humrichous got too swole at Illinois and lost his touch. I'm also on team we need Tomi and need to let him play through struggles. Not sure where Stojakovich disappeared to in the second half, but we'll be a lot stronger if we can rely on him, Boswell and Wagler to be clutch down the stretch. Boswell was consistently great today in every way.

 

[CleverHandle1]

Maybe it's not in his bag, but he could benefit from a quicker move. It's always rather deliberate and only to his right shoulder.

I agree. He did well against Tennessee, I believe, which he displayed ok moves.

He is slow, and he seems very protective of the ball when backing in.

I feel he should post up at the block to be more effective.

I know he's a huge contributor when hitting the three. That's fine, but if he's off, BU should utilize him more down low. Yes, he's slow, but potential to score is good, imo.

 

[Bbuck21]

I think it's time to accept Tomi just isnt needed or used in same capacity as last season. He feasted on those pick and pops with KJ

Keaton will just get to the hoop. Not to mention a better shooter than KJ.

Offense is going through Mirk as well. Where it'd only go through Tomi in the frontcourt last season.

With how Z is playing, Tomi should only be getting 15-20 minutes a game. Z's been the better player all season. He's a game changer defensively

 

[lstewart53x3]

In his defense, I don't think he's saying that "Tomi isn't needed" as that's just half of his sentence. Instead, i think he's saying "Tomi isn't needed in the same way he was needed last year" and I think that's true.

Last year, Tomi was our second best playmaker behind KJ, so we ran a lot of offense through him.

This year, Wagler has taken the role of KJ and Mirk has taken the role of Tomi as the secondary playmaker.

From some of his quotes on 247, it seems like the time he missed before and during the season is really hurting him.

That's when the team started to form and gel and in a way, he was the odd man out (along with Petrovic).

So he's figuring out where he fits into the offense (his own words) and likely struggling with confidence, which is leading him to be loose with the ball.

I have a feeling he'll be one of our best players again by the end of the season. He'll find his groove. But his role might not look exactly like it did last year (LaTulip talks about this a lot too on the Illini Inquirer podcast).

 

[Bbuck21]

Agree, that was NOT a hook and hold!

Also, if it was a hook and hold, how was it only Wagler ended on the floor? I never saw a review angle that confimred it. Plus Wagler had position and Sage pushed into him.

 

[SkyysNotFalling]

Tomi actually had 2 blocks today

He was better, but still nowhere near where I know he can be

Mirkovic vacuums a lot of rebounding opportunity

The encouraging part is Tomi is steadily getting better each game. If we can get 75% of last seasons Tomi in a 3rd or 4th option while he’s on the floor or opportunistic role… that raises our floor substantially and we might go from a final four threat, to a title favorite.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

Props to the Illini fans who made the trip!! The composure of this group could be the difference of a great and a special season come March … we don’t get rattled.

 

[alaskaillini]

Here's what drives me crazy with the hook and hold.

Wagler committed a foul on the play. He grabbed and pulled the guy he was fighting for the rebound with, that's a foul.

But because of the toxic over-regulation and lawyerization of the sports industry now, this has arbitrarily been slotted into the rules sub-category of a "player safety issue" so it becomes this Kafkaesque zone of exception where the mere invocation of the idea has to slam the action to a halt and divert the proceedings into a legal seminar no one understands.

It was obvious from the very first replay, which we saw 10 seconds after the play, that a hook and hold would be called. The indicators they have been trained to look for were there, no doubt about the eventual outcome. Tate Sage knew it too, he knew pressing the case would be rewarded.

But first we had to sit through the discussion of McCollum deciding whether to challenge with the referee, then the refs explaining it to each of (1) the official scorers (2) both coaches, and (3) the clueless announcers who habitually cannot explain these situations and spent the time flubbing through the difference between a "challenge" and an "appeal".

Then the actual review is looked at, which should have been subject to a time limit from the absolute first day it was ever instituted into sports.

And then the refs spend an inordinate time talking over the call themselves, and what it means in terms of what the result will be.

Then another round of explanations, and finally we get the decision that was obvious all along, and which because it exists in the "player safety issue" zone of exception is treated as a flagrant rather than common foul.

It's HORRIBLE television, presented with totally inadequate explanation and context, and has been artificially made to affect the game more than the hook and hold "problem" ever justified in the first place, which only raises the stakes, causes players to flop and seek those calls and the refs more eager to over-review.

All for a foul which the refs ought to be able to see and call themselves on the floor.

As a sports fan, this gets worse and worse and worse every single year. We the fans need to speak with a clear and common voice that we want our games back.

I was listening on the radio and have only seen a small clip, but I believe the initial call was against Iowa. If Wagler did commit the foul, and they saw that on the replay, I think the only way to change the call was to make it a flagrant. Calling a common foul on Wagler was not possible at that point. So the refs chose the call that didn't basically hand the game to Illinois. I can understand the thinking, as the choice was either giving Illinois 2 foul shots they didn't deserve, or giving Iowa two foul shots they didn't deserve (as I think that only the 6th foul on Illinois, so they would have just got to retain possession). No good choice for the refs at that point.
But I could be wrong.

 

[illiniguy24]

What a joy to see upon landing!! HUGE win.

ILL

FS1 replaying the game already is so clutch

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

What a weird game. Went from up 21-5 to looking horrible and just hanging on to win.

I don’t think we ever looked horrible. We knew Iowa would punch back and shoot well at home.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

How does everybody feel about blue unis after Music City Bowl, Bears and Iowa?

Never hated them, and it was silly to ever assign them bad luck.

 

[illiniguy24]

FS1 replaying the game already is so clutch

As a loud critic of our BLOB sets I’d like to shoutout the play we ran at about the 15:10 mark in the 2H. Beautiful set, wide open corner 3, Wagler just left it short

 

[PrandonBaul]

Just finally logging on after being at the game today. Kylan gave Stirtz zero opportunities to get comfortable. He was in his shorts all game long and it was FANTASTIC to watch. Took Iowa completely out of what they want to do. Keaton really is everything we have ever needed out a freshman. So much poise and continues to make winning plays when they are needed most. Andrej was getting to the rim at will. I think he could have been a tad more aggressive with that. Mirk was an absolute menace on the boards. Z with two BIG threes to keep it out of reach. Other than the few minutes of stagnant offense and a couple turnover runouts, it was a great showing.

As someone who now resides in Iowa, every game won at Carver Hawkeye is sweeter than the last. The I-L-L chants even outmatched the I-O-W-A chants.

Edward Cabrera, Alex Bregman, Chicago Bears, and the damn Fighting Illini gave me the best sports weekend of the year and we are 2 weeks into '26. LETS GOOO!!

 

[altgeld88]

What a weird game. Went from up 21-5 to looking horrible and just hanging on to win.

What I found weird is that I never felt worried that we were going to lose in the pit at Top 20 Iowa, even after the flagrant-1. I felt calm that the guys would shut Iowa down in the final stretch and they did. This team seems different and better than recent teams. Maybe if TSJ hadn't been yanked from us in late December that '23-'24 team would have felt similar in January. I don't think so, though. This edition seems deeper and more composed. I haven't felt this good about us in January in a while.

Seems that Brad lit a fire under them after Nebraska and the subsequent forging got them here. I like it.

 

[illiniguy24]

What a weird game. Went from up 21-5 to looking horrible and just hanging on to win.

Not sure I get this take. Had a double digit lead for 80% of the game, was never really in doubt, and responded multiple times to their mini runs and refs awful calls.

This was against a ranked opponent on the road btw

 

[From the cheap seats]

Judging by the comments of players like Andrew and Kylan, the attitudes of guys like Wagler, Z and Mirk as well
as the adaptation to their roles by Ben and Jake, this seems to be a very coachable group of players.
That could prove really important the deeper into the season we go.

 

[ejam21]

As usual I have too much time on my hands and looked at the top 12 net teams and our road wins


Looking at top 12 net teams top 2 road wins

Illinois: 19 and 38

Michigan: 42 and 104

Arizona : 8 and 42

Iowa st : 5 and 49

Duke 14 and 17

Purdue 18 and 40

Gonzaga 91 and 219

Vandy 37 and 62

UConn 21 and 87

BYU 73 and 133

Nebraska 10 and 35

Houston 49 and 97

So there are only 8 top 25 net road wins among the top 12 net teams and we have one of them.

Only 6 top 12 net teams have more than one top 50 road wins and only 4 have more than one top 40 road wins…and we are on both lists

We are now 3-0 on the road and gave Iowa its first loss at home

Not bad. Not bad at all

 

[HensonHall71]

I was listening on the radio and have only seen a small clip, but I believe the initial call was against Iowa. If Wagler did commit the foul, and they saw that on the replay, I think the only way to change the call was to make it a flagrant. Calling a common foul on Wagler was not possible at that point. So the refs chose the call that didn't basically hand the game to Illinois. I can understand the thinking, as the choice was either giving Illinois 2 foul shots they didn't deserve, or giving Iowa two foul shots they didn't deserve (as I think that only the 6th foul on Illinois, so they would have just got to retain possession). No good choice for the refs at that point.
But I could be wrong.

The original foul was on Sage- you can’t challenge a foul call but you can appeal for a review that it was a hook and hold on the other player.

To make the call even more ridiculous the refs listened to Sages explanation of the foul and then went to Iowas coach and went through his options to appeal the call- I’ve never seen a ref crew spend that much time listening to a complaint.

The most egregious part of the whole call was it had absolutely nothing to do with the play - it was a long rebound Mirk secured and 99% of the time two guys getting tangled up away from the play is a play on- really could have been a disaster call. To take a possession away from a team and give the other team two free throws and the ball back because you think “ maybe he hooked him a little” after 4 min review is ridiculous

 

[Rap47]

They got two and the ball

 

[RabidDawgClassic]

Props to the Illini fans who made the trip!! The composure of this group could be the difference of a great and a special season come March … we don’t get rattled.

At one point the Illini fans in attendance were chanting I-L-L… I-N-I and one of the clueless announcers said the crowd is doing everything it can to encourage the Hawkeyes.

 

[Illini in Indiana]

Not sure I get this take. Had a double digit lead for 80% of the game, was never really in doubt, and responded multiple times to their mini runs and refs awful calls.

This was against a ranked opponent on the road btw

I agree, without the Zebra games we win by 10-12. I love we didn't go in to victim mode, We just won anyway.

 

[hoopsfan47]

If you think Ben can't jump, you might take a look at the roster numbers as you seem to have him mixed up with someone else. IMHO, he can get off the floor a bit better than the average player his size. He is not gifted with elite elevating athleticism, but is as good as most. I would say his vertical is around 36 in. +/-, which is not in the realm of "can't jump".

What amazes me is the difference in verticality between Tomi and Z which is very unusual for twins.

 

[Oracle21]

Not really a chance they will drop below 50. Below 50 is a non tournament team

I don’t think Iowa makes the tourney. I see at least 9 more losses on their schedule. But they’ll stay top 75. Even Rutgers last year that finished with a losing record was considered Quad 1 if you won on the road.

For some reason I was thinking a quad 1 had to be an opponent that was at least top 50, not top 75. That’s why I thought they’d drop. Their most impressive game was a loss vs Iowa State. But looking at their 12 wins I don’t think they’ve beaten a tourney team. Their best win is vs a UCLA team that also hasn’t beaten anyone.