If Houston scores 80 points Illinois has no chance. None. I don’t see a scenario where the Illini score 80+ points against Houston’s defense. I can see 70. 80 points is not happening.
JMHO. Hope they light up Toyota Center.
Pregame: Illinois vs Houston, 9:05pm CT, TBS
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JMHO. Hope they light up Toyota Center.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Houston's really good but they ain't 2024 UConn good.
A good idea in theory, but there's just no way the refs give Andrej any of those calls
That was my first thought as well, well it was "Is this guy talking about some other team from Illinois?"
Illini4Chief
- TENNESSEE
Hou:93
Illini: 89
Thousands yelling and screaming at Illinois on every play, all in the home game setting for the cheater and company
Illini: 89
Thousands yelling and screaming at Illinois on every play, all in the home game setting for the cheater and company
A lot of people are throwing predictions around right now, but let’s not forget what this team is.
We made the Sweet 16 for a reason.
Our guys are locked in & we’re going to get their best effort tonigh, and at any moment we’ve got 3-4 guys who are capable of putting up career high performances.
Houston is a tough opponent, no doubt. But so are we. We’re built for games like this (we’ve said it all year, tournament ready), and we don’t back down from anyone.
Stay confident. Stay together. We’re right where we need to be. Win or lose, they’ll leave it all on the floor tonight fellas, I have no doubt about that.
I-L-L
We made the Sweet 16 for a reason.
Our guys are locked in & we’re going to get their best effort tonigh, and at any moment we’ve got 3-4 guys who are capable of putting up career high performances.
Houston is a tough opponent, no doubt. But so are we. We’re built for games like this (we’ve said it all year, tournament ready), and we don’t back down from anyone.
Stay confident. Stay together. We’re right where we need to be. Win or lose, they’ll leave it all on the floor tonight fellas, I have no doubt about that.
I-L-L
Wasn't really concerned about how good their team is or how good Tugler is
Moreso thinking: is it a productive use of mental and physical energy to just do things with the intention of putting fouls on a player?
GGs, Houston. We’re not holding them to under 70. Those 3 guards alone will likely go for 50 (Flemings 20+, Sharp and Uzan 15+). Not hard to find 20pts from the rest of their rotation with TO run out and penetration dump off dunks.
Illinois will lose this game by at least 10 points. Houston guards are way too good. This trio that Houston has Illinois hadn't seen all year. Yeah, they saw Wisconsin guards but Houston guards are elite. It was a good year but Illinois goes home tonight. In all of Illinois 8 losses it has been because of the opposing teams guard play and that won't change tonight.
Utah has the 214th ranked defense on KP and held them under 70
Middle Tennessee St has the 189th ranked defense on KP and held them under 70
Notre Dame has the 124th ranked defense on KP and held them under 70
Towson has the 91st ranked defense on KP and held them under 70
Illinois defense is ranked #24 on KP
This has more to do with pace than defense, though
The game total is 140.5 (implied score is 71.5-69) so we have just under a 50% chance of holding them under 70
That said, I'm not taking the under here... think that the total will approach 150-155
Ya he rarely gets these calls! Every time he fades to avoid contact and create space for his shot, the refs are letting them play.
Go watch Ingram’s foul on Sean May in the final minutes of our title game, he barely gets a hip check as Sean spin/drives baseline, and refs were automatic on the foul call. Illinois/Ingram even accepted and understood that was going to be called a foul.
I saw a play in the UCLA game where UConn’s Karaban hip checks Perry on a drive to push him underneath the backboard then blocks his acrobatic layup attempt. No call.
Honestly, this is a prime time game in Houston vs. a Houston team that like UConn and Duke has marketed itself as a hyper-defensive team. Refs will think thrice before calling a minor hip check or wrist slap every time Keaton, Boz, or Andrej attack the cup. It is what it is.
We benefited tremendously from this when we had TSJ. If you go back and watch the Zona comeback Dee very likely gets away with a reach in / hand slap during our epic comeback. We were swarming them the final 4min of the game and rarely got a foul called on us.
I’m tired of us taking margin from both ends. Keaton and Andrej have drawn a fair amount of fouls. Mirk puts his head down and bulldozes towards the cup. We’re more than happy to draw fouls in ‘that’ way. But when a Fears or Boyd draw fouls doing it even more intentionally, we cry foul (pun intended). Some of those Keaton and Andrej drives are for fairly tough lay-ins. We love when they get bailed out with the foul call as we shoot 80% from the line.
I think we should still attack Tugler. Even if we don’t get a foul call, he’s hopefully out of position for the DReb (something Houston is already not elite at).
The more high scoring, the more it favors Illinois, no?
Your comment sounds like something a UH fan should be saying.
Really good defense vs really good offense:
Really good defense WANTS a fistfight = low scoring game.
Really good offense wants the game to be about offensive execution = high scoring game.
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Hear me out. What if Houston scores 80 points, but we score 81?
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
Clingan is a 7-2 280 lb starting NBA center he averages 12 ppg 12 rbg w blocks per game. He is up to 27 mpg. The knock on him in college was he could only play 20 mpg.
Tugler is a 6'8" 230 college forward - 9 ppg 4 bg 1.5 blocks per game. Does not shoot the 3. Latest projections say end of 2nd round. I would bet big Z will get drafted first just based on potential.
Tugler is a nice player but no way is even close to Clingan.
Our 5 out offense will pull him away from basket.
Andrej will be driving on Uzan 6'4" 195 or Sharpe 6'3" 205. Andrej is 6'7" he will have a nice size advantage on either. I think Kylan, Keaton and Andrej will all be driving to the hoop. Even David. We are much bigger than Houston and should use it. Lets work the paint. No early 3's.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Me since 8 am
This game cannot start soon enough so our game thread has 30 pages of doom and gloom when down 6-2
But joking aside, GO ILLINI!!
But joking aside, GO ILLINI!!
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Did Mirk miss the bus...?
It’s no surprise the storyline is “Illinois offense vs. Houston defense.” That matchup is very intriguing, but what’s really grabbing my attention tonight is our defense. If we can stay disciplined on that end and force one of the scoring droughts Houston tends to fall into, that could end up being the difference
Take 1 each off Wagler and our 3&D boys.
However we get them I think 12 threes is an absolute must to open the paint.
We have 5-6 guys that can make’em. I’ll credit Bos and Staj as half each so make it 6 total alongside Keaton, Mirk, Tomi, and our wings.
That’s an average of 2 per player. If two our players can get 3 each, that alleviated pressure on not needing 1 each from Bos and Andrej. I think the other 5 guys each need to hit a minimum of 2 for us to be competitive.
If Keaton is played out of scoring positions that has to presumably open up shots assuming we can pass crisply.
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