Illinois 88, Purdue 82 Postgame

[21ChampaignSt]

For as super human as Wagler was individually, this was still a team win. It seemed like everyone stepped up and made a big shot in a big moment when called upon. The moment never got too big for anyone. And that bodes immaculately for March.

 

[Julie Meinart]

I’ve been here 43 seasons. Never seen a performance like this for us. Anyone?!

My Lord. What a team. What a freshman. What a win.

I don't know, the Arizona game in 05 was pretty exciting

 

[illinifan1987]

That was a quad 1 win, right?

Quad 1A+++++

 

[Orangetool]

I love my bright, shiny new road kill.

I'll keep it in the parlor for company to enjoy.

 

[Keisersose]

The thing is we aren't now. Took a ton but we are not one dimensional. We take it to the hole a lot more now. Wagler is so freakin good.

I sure love livin' by the by the three!

 

[illiniguy24]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2015185489729310784

 

[TampaToo]

Best Illini game ever. So proud of the guys who nailed shots the last two minutes to ensure that best game ever was a WIN.

Sorry……Illinois vs Arizona March Madness 2005!

 

[BDMAN]

Yes there is, Croit from Maryland won it last week. Then Andrae shut his water off, we all know who will when it this week. Illini fans if you don't know, let me tell you we just witnessed the B1G freshman of the year introduce himself. Have yourself a game young man, have yourself one helluva game!!!!

 

[illinipimp]

Really proud of the resiliency and toughness of this group. Down 10 on the road at one of the toughest places to play against the #4 team and never looked rattled and toughed out a huge win. Congrats guys! I-L-L !

 

[BatteredWifeSchwartz]

All I have to say is that I’m thankful for Tyler Underwood. Thank you for finding Keaton and thank you for providing us some truly insane offense.

 

[hooraybeer]

put it in the dictionary under efficient offense

 

[sacraig]

KenPom: 9 6 (with #1 offense)

Torvik: 6 5 (with #1 offense)

 

[Curbelo Fanboy]

Definitely on the National Radar now. Front runner for Big Ten FOTY, Chance for 1st or at least 2nd all Big Ten teams

National Frshman of Year perhaps?

 

[logjam]

By the standards and conventional wisdom of basketball before the spreadsheet jockeys got a hold of it, Purdue outplayed us in that game.

But 3 is worth more than 2, the analytics are right.

So...WE WON...!

 

[Fred944]

This surpassed the 43 that Brandon Paul had against a OSU

Fify

 

[WeLoveNoOther]

 

[kyillini]

I thought free throws were going to hurt us. What a win. As Ric Flair would say. "Diamonds are forever and so are the Fighting Illini!"

 

[Orangeandblue72]

This team just fights. They are different than any recent Illini team we have watched.

 

[Dan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2015193501688823887

 

[illinifan1987]

Lots of work to do but the Chicago region 1 seed is solidly on the table now. I’d assumed it would be Purdue all along. But if we take care of business we could have the St Louis to Chicago to Indy route set up.

Have we ever had a similar route?

 

[Jplatt06]

Naming my first born Keaton. Holy what a performance and college basketball game.

 

[Julie Meinart]

Hey what is Richard doing these days?? I met him at Colorado steakhouse a long time ago. I'm a big Illinois fan since the mid-80s but I'm living in Indiana.. so you can imagine my screaming at the Evansville Indiana Buffalo wild wings probably wasn't embraced.. lol

 

[LouHenson]

I genuinely don't know what else we can say about Keaton at this point. He might be our Carmelo Anthony

I think your on to what this kid could be at this point. All of us have always said you had to have one "special" player to win it all. Guess what we have one.

 

[Combo]

It's really funny how he's singlehandedly redeemed decades of nonsense summer practice reports.

Alex Legion walked so Keaton Wagler could run

Was thinking the same thing! I'm so used to downplaying positive summer reports (and Brad's use of "elite") because they're almost always fluff. The Keaton comes along and blows away any reasonable expectation.

 

[Vinegarben]

BULLETIN BOARD FOR THE ILLIN-
AN 18 YEAR OLD KID KNEW THIS WAS A BIG GAME AND HE SHOWED UP AND PLAYED LIKE A CHAMPION!

HOW ABOUT THE REST OF YOU TRY SHOWING UP THE REST OF THE SEASON?