Illinois 101, UIC 66 (Exhibition) Postgame

#26      
Illinois_in_MD
I sprung for a subscription to B1G+ to watch these exhibition games, so I made sure to watch most of this one :ROFLMAO: Hard to make too many inferences given the level of competition, but I agree with the earlier posts about the crisp ball movement and efficient shot selection. The player I was most pleasantly surprised by was Morillo. I thought he was aggressive attacking the basket, made a 3, had some nice offensive rebounds. Don't know how seamlessly that is going to translate to tougher competition, but if he keeps improving his efficiency from 3, he has the potential to be a good contributor for a couple of years.
 
#27      
RabidDawgClassic
Fly Illini Fly! said:
Vaaks had some big time plays.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2115614214924722386

https://twitter.com/x/status/2115614861652627785

https://twitter.com/x/status/2115619028219629923
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Vaaks Yeah.jpg
 
#29      
Brosky
SescIllini said:
There is going to be some good contributing players that will not be in the rotation, but can build off in the future. All the freshmen have a combination of solid fundamentals and good measurables. Lincoln going to be in the rotation IMHO, he provides a defensive presence we lack and his offense is developing.
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Yeah, I saw him knock down at least one triple. When he's open, he needs to launch.
 
#34      
Fr8trn16
Anyone know why Lincoln Williams only played 5 minutes after the blistering start he had? He could have very easily had 20 plus points in that game at the rate he was going. Was he not feeling well? Or maybe Brad felt he'd seen enough and wants to not give opponents too much film on him. šŸ¤·šŸ¾šŸ¤”
 
#36      
Illini-Rule
SescIllini said:
There is going to be some good contributing players that will not be in the rotation, but can build off in the future. All the freshmen have a combination of solid fundamentals and good measurables. Lincoln going to be in the rotation IMHO, he provides a defensive presence we lack and his offense is developing.
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Lincoln had 9 points in 5 minutes. That seems like pretty good offense to me.
 
#37      
SoILLini1
What happened to Lincoln in the 2nd half? Didn't see him at all that I can recall. Really enjoy watching him. A lot different type of player than we have had in the last couple years.
 
#38      
21ChampaignSt
Our size advantage will again be unfair for mid majors. Hard to see this team taking a bad loss. *knocks on table

Loved the passing. Maybe it's because I was an impressionable young Illini fan in 2005, but I'll always prefer the aesthetic of a passing and ball movement offense over iso.

There will be turnovers. On both ends. More than last year, anyway. Just a product of fast, agressive play and not having a generationaly good decision maker handling the ball.

QC leading the team in rebounds at 7 per game. We should win the boards every single game once Mirk is back.

Biggest preseason riser - Ethan Brow. I've been optimistic that he'd contribute right away but he's even exceeding my expectations. Trending toward starting game 1. Pretty rare feat for the 9th or 10th man šŸ˜‰
 
#40      
aaeismacgychel
I was very impressed by the effort level of our guys last night, especially from Brown and Vaaks. I loved seeing Stefan dive on the ground for loose balls and win us a few of those 50/50 possessions and Ethan seemed to be everywhere, whether it be coming back for the rebound, making the right pass, getting his hands up to pressure the shooter, and just flat out hustle. Heā€™s the type of player where he makes it almost impossible for a coach to not put him on the floor. Loved seeing it.

We did get pretty sloppy in the 2nd half, and weā€™re having players dribble into trouble without a secondary option a bit too much, but overall I really liked what I saw. Some good cuts, great passes, and some wonderful teamwork that seems ahead of schedule and suggests weā€™re going to have some great chemistry this year.

I like where we stand, we just have to get and stay healthy. Sky is the limit this year.
 
#41      
NorthShoreIllini
SoILLini1 said:
What happened to Lincoln in the 2nd half? Didn't see him at all that I can recall. Really enjoy watching him. A lot different type of player than we have had in the last couple years.
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Brad said they decided to shut him down in 2H. Was nursing a bit of an injury from practice, got a few minutes in, and didn't want to push it anymore.
 
#43      
From the cheap seats
21ChampaignSt said:
Our size advantage will again be unfair for mid majors. Hard to see this team taking a bad loss. *knocks on table

Loved the passing. Maybe it's because I was an impressionable young Illini fan in 2005, but I'll always prefer the aesthetic of a passing and ball movement offense over iso.

There will be turnovers. On both ends. More than last year, anyway. Just a product of fast, agressive play and not having a generationaly good decision maker handling the ball.

QC leading the team in rebounds at 7 per game. We should win the boards every single game once Mirk is back.

Biggest preseason riser - Ethan Brow. I've been optimistic that he'd contribute right away but he's even exceeding my expectations. Trending toward starting game 1. Pretty rare feat for the 9th or 10th man šŸ˜‰
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I think the floor is what we saw in the first half against Baylor (duh), when the defensive lapses stymie our preferred pace on offense. I don't think we'll see that again even against the likes of Duke, UConn, Texas Tech and Mizzou unless this injury bug continues because, as Brad said in the postgame, mental mistakes on the defensive end will earn a seat on the bench. And this Illini team is deep enough for him to be able to follow through on that strategy.
Without Mirk, this is still a Top 20 team. With a healthy Mirk, this is a Top5 team. When that happens is anyone's guess right now, but I think the Illini can afford to be patient in order to get Mirk to 100%.
 
#44      
RollChief
From the cheap seats said:
I think the floor is what we saw in the first half against Baylor (duh), when the defensive lapses stymie our preferred pace on offense.
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All I could think about is how awesome we looked in the first half last night, and how Baylor still managed to score 4 more than we did in our first half against them haha... 63 points in a first half is almost unfathomable.
 
#45      
Mobi
Chillinini said:
Said it when they got Vaaks, gave me some KJ vibes with his passing.

Williams extremely effective in 5 minutes (!).

Brown looks the rotational part.

Zens looked solid.
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Is the hook pass on their standard training manual in those European countries? It makes sense that Vaak is KJ on steroid.
 
#46      
Fly Illini Fly!
Mobi said:
Is the hook pass on their standard training manual in those European countries? It makes sense that Vaak is KJ on steroid.
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I donā€™t think Vaaks is as turnover-prone as KJ.

Cincinnati: 2ast, 3 TO
Baylor: 5ast, 0 TO
UIC: 5ast, 1 TO

Vaaks turnover rate at Providence: 14.3%
KJ turnover rate at Illinois: 25.4% (which is honestly absurdly high)
 
#50      
Fly Illini Fly!
March2TheArch said:
We still need downhill energy to keep up that free throw rate. Something we excelled at last year with Keaton. I think Mirk, Vaaks, Andrej, and Q have it in them. But something to keep an eye on.
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I donā€™t think it was something we excelled at.

Illinois was 232nd in free throw attempt rate.

Only 19.2% of our total points came from free throws, which was 215th in the country.
 
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