Illinois 79, Northwestern 68 Postgame

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#101      
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#102      
1. Fourth B1G road win
2. No worse than a third place tie in B1G
3. One win in a row in Evanston
4. Tomi breaks out of a slump
5. Keaton plays yet another top level game and comes through in the clutch...but not the hold.;)
6. Depth advantage shows down the stretch. Thanks Brad for loading the bench to the end.
7. Illini play to the buzzer when not hitting on all cylinders and grind out a win that beats the spread.
8. Kylan leads the team and wills the team to a solid win...as a senior should...with solid play on both ends. Tip of the cap to KB.
 
#103      
Winning on the road always presents challenges and this team keeps finding ways to get it down. Wagner had a great second half. Loved seeing Tomi hit big shots. Kylan being Kylan. A comfortable win despite the refs handing NW a 10-0 run with the two techs.

During that same stretch, our zone defense was giving up a lot of open looks. Count me in the camp that is glad we have a zone / different defensive looks to throw at teams. But I sure hope that zone defense gets improved. It seems we go to the zone more often when Z is in. I’m curious if those with more knowledge than me have a sense of why that might be.
I think they feel Z can get around his man to contest the three from the corner and then get back. Tomi is too slow to do that.
 
#105      
That little thing we ran twice in a row that got Tomi those two dagger threes... that's awfully hard for any team to deal with.
Collins was so frustrated with that play. Kept laughing watching his reactions. Led to a couple timeouts.
 
#112      
KenPom had it 80-72. We won 79-68.

We played our game (11-30 from 3), they played theirs and we won easily.

For all the folks in the game thread screaming for us to stop shooting 3's after we started 2-14. We went 9-16 the rest of the way. Our offense is GOOD. Let it cook.
I entered the game thread right before half, and then quickly realized why I generally try to avoid it.
 
#118      
KenPom had it 80-72. We won 79-68.

We played our game (11-30 from 3), they played theirs and we won easily.

For all the folks in the game thread screaming for us to stop shooting 3's after we started 2-14. We went 9-16 the rest of the way. Our offense is GOOD. Let it cook.
I was kind of concerned by all the missed threes then I realized they were getting the offensive rebound and putting up the two so I calmed down. But only a little.
 
#119      
Against also-ran teams like Northwestern? Maybe. Against teams competing for a spot on top of our conference, I don't see it.
 
#120      
Two very impressive wins on the road against very good teams.

As BU said, NW has had leads in basically all of their Big Ten games, while Iowa almost pulled off an upset in West Lafayette (9-point 2nd half lead at one point).

Just impressed all-around: a great balance of three-pointers and taking it to the hole. Defense gave up some offensive rebounds in the second half, but overall, a real good job. Once Kylan covered the "little guy," he chilled a little bit.

I hate the hook and hold! Am I wrong for wondering how in the Sam Hell that was a H&H? Or I just don't know the rule?

I felt the referees gave Illini a break with the Tomi 3-point play after NW cut the lead to four, I believe. Tomi posted up a smaller player while Jake made a great pass. NU player didn't really touch him at all. I believe the refs knew they screwed Illinois on that H&H.
 
#122      
A lot of things happened tonight that don’t normally happen.

They are a bad rebounding team. Played us even on the boards.

They are a bad three point shooting team. Hit 9 of them tonight.

Had a guy go for a career night. I was worried about that matchup going in but no way did I pencil him in for 28.

Refs dealt us some adversity.

And who knows how many guys are under the weather.

Still found a way to win. Kylan and Keaton are ice cold. And we got a good Tomi game just when we needed it. We have so many different buttons to push this year. 4-0 on the road to start out conference play is outstanding.
 
#124      
On more than one occasion Boswell and Wagler coulda kicked it out but instead went to the bucket. Boswell made great decisions to not settle for 3s down the stretch in this game. This was exactly what I’ve wanted to see during crunch time in previous games that have gotten away from us.

Boswell controlled this game
 
#125      
IMHO, he is the equal of KJ who seemed to have better vision and passing "courage" leading to some "wow" plays. But I have no doubt that Keaton is a better overall shooter by the same advantage. I see KW with a higher upside, but IMHO, he needs another year at Illinois and not at the end of the bench somewhere in the NBA. Life is a lot easier in C-U than in the NBA....and I think his parents know that. He will forever be an Illini legend if he rolls it back for another year with this core group. If Brad can keep them together they will be a top 5 team next year and may not need more than one addition...maybe none.
 
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