Some monster plays defensively by Coleman:
Texas Tech 84, Illinois 78 Postgame
Always disappointing to lose but losing to Texas Tech on the road isn't a bad loss.
This part wont be a popular take but I wish Brad would stop trying to be cute and just start his 5 best players. Start Vaaks and let him get in a rhythm. Brown looks like a nice piece but he's not Wagler.
Did the same thing with Stojakovic last year and got lucky it didn't bite him(nearly did against Iowa). 40 minute games are quick, no reason to put yourself behind the 8 ball.
This part wont be a popular take but I wish Brad would stop trying to be cute and just start his 5 best players. Start Vaaks and let him get in a rhythm. Brown looks like a nice piece but he's not Wagler.
Did the same thing with Stojakovic last year and got lucky it didn't bite him(nearly did against Iowa). 40 minute games are quick, no reason to put yourself behind the 8 ball.
To me, a pivotal point in the game was at the 4 minute mark when we had closed to 68-66 and then we gave up 3 consecutive offensive rebounds that resulted in a made 3 which put them up 71-66. Or, perhaps we just make free throws and then we don’t have to dissect anything.
I listened to Inquirer post game pod after this post and Werner/Tausk put it great "Z is unplayable right now".And sadly we're having to play him.Crazy coincidence
With how deep we are and Z already playing minimally (with Mirk out), I've struggled to find myself thinking "Boy, I wish Z was out there more". If Tomi goes down (Mirk still out), obviously we'd see more Z. I'm just over the clanked 3s and weak play from him as a 23 year old man. I think he's just sharply regressed over time and gives lazy weak effort. He's been a complete no show this season.
Im not gonna sit here and pretend to be the leader of the Jakstys fan club as he is what he is at this level....an end of bench big. But if I'm gonna have to play a backup big 10-12 minutes a game. id prefer the guy showing some toughness and will battle down on the block.
Tomi has got his fair share of deserved criticism over the course of time but.he gave 30 minutes last night. Probably can't expect much more than that at his size and their pace but those 10 minutes he wasn't on the floor as their big were ugly
Agree we win if we hit free throws. However, we aren't down 20 to begin with if the game wasn't play under the "no blood, no foul" stipulation in the first half.
A nunber of our turnovers that led directly to points for Tech were a result of getting mauled.
Our freshmen were shocked by the physicality of the 1st half but did not wilt but overcame it in the 2nd half.
Turnovers, defense, rebounding, and free throws. Impossible to win, especially on the road, when you fail at all 4 of those at the same time.
I thought aside from the TOs, the offense generated us a lot of looks, and we just didn’t capitalize. Jake Davis was very missed today. Mrik also, but he’s an All American candidate so that’s obvious. Zens missed some wide open ones, Vaaks missed his wide open ones (ignoring his stupid ones), Z missed his wide open ones (ignoring his stupid ones). Tomi came out with a purpose offensively, he was very good. Drej and Coleman good as well. Lincoln Williams was active, and in a game against a very athletic team, his athleticism still stood out.
This was Ethan Brown’s and Zens’ welcome to college basketball moment. I am huge proponent of how Brad schedules. Really a blessing to get it now to speed up the player and team development process. Get your baseline defects exposed early so you can fix them early. Now when we fix those and we move on to another good team soon, second level issues get exposed and fixed, and that’s how you build a great team by conference play. Once you get 90-95% of your issues fixed in the non conference, you tweak here and there for your conference game plans by scout, and when the tourney comes around, you’ve played every game plan multiple times, and you win tournament games.
I thought aside from the TOs, the offense generated us a lot of looks, and we just didn’t capitalize. Jake Davis was very missed today. Mrik also, but he’s an All American candidate so that’s obvious. Zens missed some wide open ones, Vaaks missed his wide open ones (ignoring his stupid ones), Z missed his wide open ones (ignoring his stupid ones). Tomi came out with a purpose offensively, he was very good. Drej and Coleman good as well. Lincoln Williams was active, and in a game against a very athletic team, his athleticism still stood out.
This was Ethan Brown’s and Zens’ welcome to college basketball moment. I am huge proponent of how Brad schedules. Really a blessing to get it now to speed up the player and team development process. Get your baseline defects exposed early so you can fix them early. Now when we fix those and we move on to another good team soon, second level issues get exposed and fixed, and that’s how you build a great team by conference play. Once you get 90-95% of your issues fixed in the non conference, you tweak here and there for your conference game plans by scout, and when the tourney comes around, you’ve played every game plan multiple times, and you win tournament games.
We ran a ton of ball screens last night
blackdog
- Champaign
That's because he also had 2 turnovers and 0 assists. The missed FTs were so brutal coming from a guy who was 84% last year, especially considering WHEN they happened too. Very forgettable game for Vaaks.
Nice comeback. I would love to see the twins do some high low action. They did not have the height to contend against it.
Free throws are such an overlooked part of the game for many (including players themselves!) because they are not sexy like 30 foot bombs or backboard-shaking slam dunks or Magician-like passes through traffic. But Free throws win games – or lose them. Period. Always have, always will.
Free throws are that muscle-mind-memory combination of mental concentration and physical technique – tune out all the noise around you... rotate the ball until you get that right feel for it in your hands – make sure you have a good knee-bend upon your release AND good arm follow-through in that release. Gauge the right elevation and release the ball with as light a touch as possible for friendly rim responses if needed. No other magic formula required. And keep practicing this until you could literally make free throws in your sleep. Muscle memory. Mental discipline.
And one more thing: Confidence. ‘Know’ that ball is going through the middle of your target. Watch it do that. And know that you can do this another 25 times in a row if you had to.
Free Throws may be ‘free’. But missing them COSTS you a whole lot...
I don't feel that this is fair to our bench guys at all. We went down big because the twins, Andrej, and Vaaks were struggling with defensive basics, ball control, and rebounding.
Thru 3 games:
When Z is on the court, opponents are shooting 31.3% at the rim (shots inside 4.5 feet).
When Z is not on the court, opponents are shooting 60.5% at the rim.
(P.S. -29.2% is a gigantic difference which is most certainly due to the minuscule sample size of minutes and games. His on/off difference last year was -5.0, which is very good.
However, it shows that he’s made an impact.)
Last edited:
Just a weird game. Multiple injuries throughout. Horrendous shooting at the FT line, and poor 3 pt shooting for the looks we got. No showed in the first half and lost by 6. Not a loss that makes you temper expectations for this squad but have to play better for a full 40.
Right. I've never seen such a hive mind parrot takeover of something that didn't happen.
Tech went on a 21-5 run in the last 7 minutes of the 1H.
The players on the floor during that stretch were Brown/Stojakovic/Zens/Vaaks/T.Ivisic with Williams/Coleman rotating in for a few minutes.
Here are some highlights of that +16 stretch where Tech built their lead:
Zens missed 3
Vaaks missed layup
Zens turnover
T.Ivisic turnover
Vaaks turnover
T.Ivisic turnover
Vaaks missed FT
Vaaks turnover
The lead already ballooned to 11 before Morillo ever came back into the game, and he played 1 minute and subbed back out.
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
They were all completely out of whack. A more moderate pace with less subs would have lessened the damage.
Vaaks was a bench guy….as was Z…so not sure how this is about bench guy fairness.
This is so wrong, because when Mirk comes back, the makeup of the team will be entirely different.
1,000%
I said it at the time: "That's game."
I agree with you.
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
Cruz carried the ball all game long.........it's something that perturbs me greatly .....it really really does ........
we had zero leadership on the court in the first half..........some tried but after we tied it at 17-17 the wheels came off , the axle broke and the radiator was hissing on our offensive play till halftime.........
adjustments were made and we played with purpose but the mistakes and missed FT's and the lack of defensive rebounding in the second half spelled doom and gloom for the Illini.........
I feel if we had ever got the lead especially when we closed to 68-66 that the game might have turned to our side .........but when they got 5 offensive rebounds and then hit a 3 , it seemed to take some wind out of our sails........
to overcome a 20 point halftime deficit takes so much effort and hitting 70 % of our FT's would have reinforced our will to overcome such a big lead by TT ......
Mirko-Man and Jake Davis .....get healthy , we need your leadership and talent ............we really really do .............
we had zero leadership on the court in the first half..........some tried but after we tied it at 17-17 the wheels came off , the axle broke and the radiator was hissing on our offensive play till halftime.........
adjustments were made and we played with purpose but the mistakes and missed FT's and the lack of defensive rebounding in the second half spelled doom and gloom for the Illini.........
I feel if we had ever got the lead especially when we closed to 68-66 that the game might have turned to our side .........but when they got 5 offensive rebounds and then hit a 3 , it seemed to take some wind out of our sails........
to overcome a 20 point halftime deficit takes so much effort and hitting 70 % of our FT's would have reinforced our will to overcome such a big lead by TT ......
Mirko-Man and Jake Davis .....get healthy , we need your leadership and talent ............we really really do .............
Texas Tech had an offensive rebound on 47.4% of their missed FGs. That’s a putrid rate surrendered on Illinois’s part (9th percentile).
Last year, Illinois only surrendered a 27.4% OREB rate on missed FGs, which was 19th best in the country.
….
On Torvik, Illinois is listed as 8th in average height, while Texas Tech is 292nd.
Last year, Illinois only surrendered a 27.4% OREB rate on missed FGs, which was 19th best in the country.
….
On Torvik, Illinois is listed as 8th in average height, while Texas Tech is 292nd.
Last edited:
They did clean this up though. At least 11 of the 16 TO were in the first half.
biggest question for this team, which would remain even if mirk were healthy, is
who's gonna end up being our lead ball handler(s)?
who's gonna end up being our lead ball handler(s)?