Pregame: Illinois at UCLA, Saturday, February 21st, 7:00pm CT, FOX

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#102      
Troop44
TheOx76 said:
There are several times per game that our perimeter defender gets beat off the dribble and funnels the opponent into the lane where Big Z is waiting, yet somehow, inexplicably fouls the player instead of letting Z either block or change his shot. I hope we can let Dent and Skyy try to shoot over out bigs instead of foul. Obviously, we don’t usually foul a lot but it’s still maddening at times to see. Also, Tomi just needs to go up vertically some times.
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I have said this before. These guys have to realize Z is waiting. Stop panicking and reaching or holding on drives! It makes me crazy. Z is in great position to either block or alter and someone fouls!!
 
#103      
Zorak
Yeah, so...this is the trap game that's not a trap game.
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How well does the team need to play for y'all to stop talking about trap games
 
#105      
MULEDOG35
Illini4Christ said:
Hummer couldn’t guard coach Izzo’s mom last season.
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I thought it was his grandma.
Boss Blocking GIF
 
#109      
OB positive
Altuve27 said:
Ben deserves a TON of credit. Last year when he didn’t make shots he didn’t provide much of anything.

This year if he has an off night he still gives you excellent post defense. He has done a great job of walling up and staying vertical.

He has also rebounded well in several games, and he NEVER turns the ball over.

Ben has had a very good, very impactful season.

Oh, also, as Kyle pointed out on the postgame podcast, in 2 of the last 11 games Ben hasn’t hit a shot from the floor. In those other nine games Humrichous is shooting 52% from three.
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Ben wasn't as bad on defense as a lot of people claim he was. He wasn't always up to the task but he always gave all he had and sometimes it was enough. He has worked hard and shown a lot of improvement in his defense this year and is very seldom a liability on that end of the floor.
 
#111      
alaskaillini
Ben's defense started out bad last year but by the time we played Purdue late in the season he did a better job on TKR than Tomi did. Just don't think he was prepared for how fast and physical the B1G was. This year, his foot speed has really improved and he can guard 2s. Fletch thinned him down and sped him up last offseason. His rebounding and shot blocking this year has been a big bonus. Glad he is having a good year, and that people are starting to appreciate him and his effort.
 
#112      
hoopsfan47
There is no doubt in my feeble mind that there will be zero letdown in effort and focus on Sat. night. But what does concern me is UCLA raining 3s while ours hit the heel of the rim and bounce 10 ft. away on 80% of the shots. Or we get fouled on 40%i of our layyups and get calls 15% of the time. We see such games every year, usually in our road games. Why the B1G hierarchy has not made an effort to eliminate road bias in officiating is a mystery to me. The USC game was maybe the most consistently called B1G game I have seen since the 70s. Hard to explain away with any credibility why a top team in the NCAA in fewest fouls/game goes to East Lansing and for much of the game is called for 70% more fouls than a team that fouls big time in most of their games. It really did not happen, but the refs made it happen and it was in inexplicable anomaly. Regardless, those kind of things, one unpredictable and the other quite so in the B1G, that can leave elite and talented teams getting beat by opponents that are quite outmanned. So....we shall have to wait and see.
 
#114      
OrangeBlue98
Hummer couldn’t guard coach Izzo’s mom last season.
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Coffee hasn’t kicked in, and I read this as “Hamer”. But it still was correct…….
 
#116      
illini55
OrangeBlue98 said:
They are a lot better than USC. This game has always been one of concern for me. Second game of a long road trip against a team that shoots well.

Not doom and gloom, as I do think Illinois wins. Just that it’s one of those tricky road games that pop up in basketball.
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Unlike MANY past years, the Illini don't seem to be affected at all by being on the road. It could be argued they've actually been better on the road, see Purdue, USC, Nebraska, OSU, Iowa. Go Illini!!
 
#119      
RabidDawgClassic
illini55 said:
Unlike MANY past years, the Illini don't seem to be affected at all by being on the road. It could be argued they've actually been better on the road, see Purdue, USC, Nebraska, OSU, Iowa. Go Illini!!
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UCLA fans barely attend games when they’re good. They’re in a major free fall now. I expect the same type of crowd at Pauley as we saw at the Galen Center.
 
#122      
Get yourself a new map
UCLA is annoyingly FAR more effective at home. They shoot 40% from 3 at Pauley. They have the best home record in the conference and could easily be undefeated at home if not for some strange officiating at the end of their one loss. Gotta stay the course because they are going to hit shots. One thing we have going for us is that I'm not expecting much 🐎 :poop: from the refs, at least not to the extent of what we all knew was coming at Breslin (which somehow exceeded my expectations).
 
#125      
NarrowJ
Scoregasm said:
So Jake starting or Andrej? Discuss......
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Some people believe the better player should always start (see Ben Humrichouse discourse), but I'm not so sure. I like starting the game with Jake, but when we play Michigan I think we're going to need the size, so I'm not opposed to just starting whichever player makes sense purely from a matchup perspective.
 
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