Pregame: Illinois vs Houston, Thursday, March 26th, 9:05pm CT, TBS

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#376      
fatt lacosse
HensonHall71 said:
Many losing fans won’t stick around for the late game and if they do I can’t imagine they will be cheering hard for either team. In ‘05 for the FF our students wore green reversible shirts supporting MSU and their students wore the same and flipped them to orange for our late game. I don’t see the same thing happening in Houston given it’s two big ten teams playing before us.
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I think Illini fans have a clear rooting interest for Nebraska/Iowa....
 
#380      
RabidDawgClassic
RML said:
I vote yes on making "Zvomahawk" a thing.
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Consider it GIFed!

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#381      
TheFlyingIllini1317
I can't wait for Thursday! An elite eight matchup a round early against a top program this decade in their own backyard I'm so pumped. I truly think it's a toss up and with a win we take the momentum to go to Indy.
 
#383      
TheDukeUIUC
doowink said:
I would like to see Bam do some of the penetrating along with Wagler and kick out to , Jake, Tomi, Ben & co. for the 3's. Thinking that Houston will be concentrating their efforts on Wagler, this could leave Bam with some pretty good opportunities for drives to the rim.
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I would like to see some of the high-low action from the Penn game with Tomi on top and Mirk in the paint to spread the ball out to shooters since we know they like to collapse in the paint.
 
#384      
Vinegarben
Illinois will have to play their best game. Houston will foul foul foul and then foul you again but NEVER get called for them. If the Illini go to the basket like they did against VCU I think they could pull the upset if they make their free throws.
 
#386      
New Creation
We are in the best position we could possibly be in.. Lets get a great week of practice in, come out and play hard and we will have a MORE THAN A CHANCE to take down this Houston team!

Sweet 16 teams' record vs. Sweet 16 teams:
Arizona: 6-0
Michigan: 6-2
Purdue: 6-4Duke: 4-0
Iowa State: 4-2
Alabama: 4-4
Illinois: 4-5
UConn: 3-3
Tennessee: 3-3
Michigan State: 3-4
Nebraska: 3-5
St. John's: 2-3
Arkansas: 2-4
Houston: 1-4
Texas: 1-4
Iowa: 1-7
 
#387      
Altgeld's Bells
HensonHall71 said:
This game is going to come down to who out coaches who IMO- contrasting styles but very evenly matched analytically so it’s going to take Tyler and Cam to scheme up the right actions and coverages to let us play to our advantage

Our advantages will be on the offensive glass- they are not a great defensive rebounding team, so we need to win the glass by a healthy margin. They will take away our driving ability and get up on our guards so we can’t rely on just our pick and pop- I think we’ll have to pound it inside on post ups to Tomi, who will have an advantage on the inside, how effective he is on post-ups will dictate a lot

They play three very athletic 6-4 guards. Sharp is their three point shooter who shoots six a game at a 40% clip so I think we put Kylan on him. Fleming wants to get to midrange and to the rim, he doesn’t shoot many threes. We need to defend the rim well given they have the athletes to drive past us on the perimeter without screens, so our help and rotations will need to be better than typical this game.

Both teams play at a slow pace so it will come down to who executes better. If we get 40% of misses back and have fewer than 10 turnovers I think we win. We just need to outscore them IMO and not foul them. Coaching adjustments throughout based on what’s not working will make the difference in this one - I think it will be a chess match
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Sounds like a box and one?

Hopefully we can stay out of foul trouble and we have an evenly reffed game. (And hopefully Keaton gets an at least equal whistle to Fleming.)
 
#388      
aaeismacgychel
altgeld88 said:
On the flip side, I hate living in the Eastern time zone for the same reason at the extremity. The tip will be, at best, around 10:15 p.m. The game will end around 12:45. I will take at least an hour to shed the adrenaline high (win or lose). I will fall asleep by 2 a.m. if I'm lucky. Just like Iowa State two years ago nearly to the day.

And Friday I have to get up at 7 a.m. for a weekend trip. I will be absolutely wrecked.

OTOH, it's a high-class problem. We're in the S16 in an epic matchup. Anyway, I'll probably blow the entire Thursday evening, first watching the Corn Bowl that precedes our game.
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Yep 100%. I loved Pacific Time when I was out there for that very reason. Late games are a pain in the Eastern time zone, especially when you factor in work and family whereas Pacific really fits neatly with work schedule in my opinion. That said, this game could start at 2 in the morning and it wouldn't matter. We'll be up and ready. So as long as we're up and amped, let's see something special happen.

That 2005 Arizona team was a damn good team we met in the Elite 8. Scary good. This Houston team is scary good. But sometimes you've gotta beat scary good teams to be great. Let's make it happen.
 
#389      
JackyO
Can we handle their physicality? For me, the entire game comes down to that.
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Yes! We need to play just as tough. That’s what makes them successful
 
#390      
BoiseBaller
Many losing fans won’t stick around for the late game and if they do I can’t imagine they will be cheering hard for either team. In ‘05 for the FF our students wore green reversible shirts supporting MSU and their students wore the same and flipped them to orange for our late game. I don’t see the same thing happening in Houston given it’s two big ten teams playing before us.
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I’m not sure who they hate more, our fans or nebby fans.
 
#391      
kyillinifan
Love to see Jake get a couple more chances at the three. Hope Keaton would have a Purdue type of a game. Go Illini. When we win we could get Nb or Iowa.
 
#392      
Oldskoolkoach
IlliniHardwood said:
I have watched both Houston and the Beloved play this season & in the tourney. I am not ready to award them 2 out of 3 games. Yes, they have dawgs basically every game while we seem to have dawgs in the odd months and occasional even month. I have not seen anything about Houston's game that made me think we're in trouble. In fact, I think they are going to have to play the best game of their season to beat us, even for what is basically a home game for them. We are a really good road team, a better team overall (IMO) with more threats, it's an odd month (April will be the occasional even month for our dawgs), and best of all, we look to be peaking into January Illini form again. I expect to survive and advance, if not more.
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Its an odd month...we good!
 
#394      
Julie Meinart
Oracle21 said:
A matchup of skill vs physicality. Very intriguing. I think we have a better chance this time than the Kofi team.

I don’t think the home court advantage will be that much. I expect there to be more Illini fans there than Houston fans even with the game in Houston
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Why would you expect there to be less Houston fans?
 
#395      
Julie Meinart
Rusty said:
I apologize for thinking you're crazy but I believe going against the defending National Champions who are a #1 seed and then going against potentially the overall #1 seed in this tourney is easier? That's quite an opinion, that being said, I hope you're right.
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Isn't Houston a number two seed?
 
#399      
Altuve27
Houston will be allowed to be ultra physical. It’s the way they have played the last 9 years under Sampson. The referees know this and will allow plenty of contact. Again, if Illinois can play through the physicality and match Houston’s fight, it will go down to the final minutes.

Houston tries to bully you in a basketball sense. Have to stand up to that. No backdown.
 
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