Texas Tech 84, Illinois 78 Postgame

#76      
BackThatPassUp
Our freshmen had some growing pains in the first half. Too many turnovers and they had to adjust to the physicality but the second half was much better. Our shooting sorely missed jake davis because we missed way too many wide open threes throughout the game. No need to talk about FTs. We all saw that. I'm just glad they made a game out of it.

Quentin Coleman gave us the toughness and scrappiness I'd expect from Tomi at this point. The defensive rebounding was abysmal.
 
#77      
IllinoisGrad0609
30 minutes for Tomi.
11 for Z, and I think they were pretty much all in the 1st half.
I think we need an explanation.
Bench was crazy shallow today...
 
#80      
IlliniHardwood
Congratulations to Texas Tech on reaching the pinnacle of their season at game 3 by winning against #3 Illinois who was missing a potential NPOY and two starters, and starting 3 true freshman. We showed our mettle as I expected we would. The pinnacle of our season is waiting to be reached in April 2027.
 
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#81      
NASchamp
Juju said:
Lol the TT fans chanting "overrated" at the end there as if we didn't come back from down 20 to scare the 💩 out of them. Proud of the fight we showed, especially considering we're not at full strength.

Now, free throws until they puke, Brad!!
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I’ll give it to them, they do create a much louder atmosphere than the Orange Krush, but their fans seem insufferable.
 
#84      
JSpence
Reminder that the freshman still looked like the best player on the floor even after puking on it.
 
#85      
thehass
Lost the game in the 1st half and at the ft line. Gritty play 2nd half and many teachable moments. All is not lost.
 
#87      
Illini2010-11
Lost Quad1A oppurtunity. Coleman is a stud on the grand stage.

First half was an absolute failing grade, but the effort in the 2nd half was amazing.

Need to clean up the rebounding (can't allow so many second to fourth chances). And free throws...single handily killed the Illini. Almost appeared like the spinny props were impacting the free throws, but that is what happens on the road.

Somehow Illini were in position to win, even shorthanded. This team will be fine long term. Disappointing to lose because of free throw issues, but the team had opportunities to fold and they never did.

This is still a top 5 team and will only get better when we get Mirk back.
 
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#91      
InDaAZ
21ChampaignSt said:
The team grew up a lot in that game.
And I threw up a lot watching us shoot ft's.
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You’re not the only one…
Illinois Fighting Illini GIF by Respective
 
#92      
Orange Wave
Love the 2nd half fight. Great learning experience. Just gotta take the lesson. Missing a Boswell type guard at this point. Love the battle in the freshmen. Now they know what this is like.
 
#97      
Miles Leonard
Love the 2nd half effort. Coleman quite literally left it all out on the court tonight. Proud of that young man.

Reasons we lost tonight:
Free throws
Rebounding
Free throws
Dug ourselves way too big of a hole in the first half
Free throws
Vaaks building an entire block of mansions with his bricks
I might have forgot to mention this...free throws

Need Mirk and Jake back ASAP obviously but 2nd half tonight showed me that Brad has another SQUAD that will be fun to watch.
 
#98      
wncillini
We didnt have our best player, but neither did they and theirs is arguably better. Just not a great team. Hopefully they can improve but will not beat duke nor uconn like this. Hopefully we can beat Missouri.

Isee us getting pushed around all season against the best teams. We have no toughness and no bulk to take it. Teams like uconn and msu are going to trounce us if tomi and z cant figure out how big they are.

If vaaks isnt going to make open 3s and free throws he is making himself unplayable against the big boys. He cant guard em so he better make his shots. Could have really used the steadying personality of Jake tonight. A couple open 3s to stop some runs and calm some nerves.

I think we fall to 8 and thats about where we are. Definitely not a final four team.

Good news is Coleman will be a joy to watch the one season hes here.
 
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#99      
Oracle21
Well on one hand, they could have quit at halftime down 20 and they didn’t. Kept fighting, stopped turning it over, and made it a game. So that’s a positive.

QC also a big positive. They absolutely need him playing 35+ minutes bc they have nobody else to handle the ball. Plus he is special at creating his own.

That’s all the positives.

Negatives:
- Vaaks isn’t a PG. The FT misses were bad. He’s not KJ. He’s not Wagler. I’m pretty down in where he fits. Wasn’t good on defense (nobody other than LW/QC can guard the ball tho).

-Turnovers. Now they got better in the 2nd half. But what was going on in the 1st half? We were really weak with the ball.

-On Ball defense: I guess LW going have to play lot too bc TT got into the paint at will.

FTs- I mean you just gotta make a higher percentage tho Vaaks was bad at Providence too.

Offense: I think we need to adjust our style back to slow. We don’t have enough dribblers to push.

Overall: Feels like a group that is 1 year away. Too many freshman and in this day of college basketball “get old stay old” usually beats younger teams like ours. We aren’t there physically.
 
#100      
blife
QC 19/5/4 tweaking a knee and puking. Pretty Pretty good
 
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