Texas Tech 84, Illinois 78 Postgame

#251      
Retro62
Z needs to get the message that he is a rim protector and should do his work in the lane on both ends of the court. He is still a very valuable member of the team if he can focus on that — we have plenty of other guys who can shoot the three.
 
#252      
HailtotheChief
pruman91 said:
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 .............
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What we needed is maybe one less 2/3 on the wing and instead one more power 4 with some junk in the trunk to back up Mirk at the 4 if Jason can't do it. Settles had 13 boards in 25 min and out rebounded us by double digits! Length alone doesnt equate to rebounding every night if good teams have a guy like that. We have several to basically fill in for Jake and i know that no one is Mirk but we shouldve added a power 4 that can rebound and we didnt. After Mirk we have no one to deal with a dude built to crash the glass. I wish we had a Georgi B or Charles Oakley or TKR type of body not that complete player but to just rebound or as insurance in case Mirk got hurt but we don't. Many said our slim dudes in today's game can do it. They felt someone like Andre or others can match up at the 4. We'll not against a strong body like Settles they couldn't. He owned the glass and we couldn't match up. Hopefully we dont run into many guys like that before Mirk is back because losing on the boards by double digits is tough to overcome
 
#254      
RollChief
RollChief said:
Lmao it’s a young team early in the season, it’s kind of how it goes. TTU started 3 5th year seniors and we started 3 freshman. These are the times that Jake and Mirk are sorely missed but I’d be worried if we rolled over and lost like in 24-25 going in down 20 at the half.

They (especially QC) showed a sh!t ton of grit, once Mirk gets back healthy I think this is going to be a different team.
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Just saw the stat that TTU is #1 out of 365 D-1 teams in college basketball experience. Going into that environment against the most experienced team in CBB was probably a taller hill than some of us imagined.

With that said, the fact that QC was the best player on the court last night gave me a lot of hope for this season.
 
#255      
illiniguy24
Fly Illini Fly! said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2120379464127484382
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I had this thought during the end of the first half last night, but it didn’t materialize until looking at this chart now.

There is a small bit of concern for me that the whole “no plays” style of offense can bring a lot of issues against strong, aggressive, defensive teams, like Texas, Tech, Michigan, State, UConn, etc….especially without a true veteran lead guard

Promising to see we made an adjustment at half and got back to a highly efficient offense, but I’m curious to see how this trends over the next month
 
#256      
Kernal12
No team in the country has two tougher true away games in November than we do. I was looking through some of the schedules and most teams don't play a true away game until sometime in December. Our first true road game last year was at Ohio State, with UConn after Thanksgiving being the first road-like test. The team clearly wasn't quite prepared for what it was going to be like in the first half yesterday -- not surprising with some many freshman playing their first road game -- but great to go through this now and learn to fight through all that comes with being in a hostile environment.
 
#257      
Combo
Fly Illini Fly! said:
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.
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Agility and athleticism matter way more than height. It’s ridiculous to think that having the taller lineup makes you automatically better. An agile 6’8 guy will routinely beat an immobile 7’1 guy for rebounds.
 
#259      
ChiefGritty
NarrowJ said:
This feels far more relevant to the disparity in performance in the 1H vs 2H, and proven through real data instead of just 'vibes'.
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I mean we totally changed what we were doing at both ends at halftime. Ball screens on offense and switching and drop coverage on defense. Plus shortening the bench and slowing the game down a bit. Tech, who were extremely well prepared for what we attacked them with in the first half, had no idea what hit them for the first 10-12 minutes of the second.

That leaves us with a bit of a mystery in the aftermath. Who are we?
 
#260      
OrangeBlue98
ChiefGritty said:
I mean we totally changed what we were doing at both ends at halftime. Ball screens on offense and switching and drop coverage on defense. Plus shortening the bench and slowing the game down a bit. Tech, who were extremely well prepared for what we attacked them with in the first half, had no idea what hit them for the first 10-12 minutes of the second.

That leaves us with a bit of a mystery in the aftermath. Who are we?
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To be honest, I’m not sure even the coaching staff knows the answer to that question until Mirkovic is back. Not a criticism of the staff at all. When you’re playing a ton of freshmen, a new transfer, and you’re missing your best player (and on the short list of best players in college basketball), it’s going to be hard to know that answer.
 
#261      
Brosky
Combo said:
Agility and athleticism matter way more than height. It’s ridiculous to think that having the taller lineup makes you automatically better. An agile 6’8 guy will routinely beat an immobile 7’1 guy for rebounds.
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Especially if the 6-8 guy is strong, tenacious, and has high court IQ. Remember Ken Norman and Robert Bennett? The latter was only about 6-5. He'd go to the boards with anybody. I forgot Sergio, who was only about 6-3 but extremely strong and focused. Some thought that inch for inch, he was the best rebounder in the county,
 
#262      
NarrowJ
ChiefGritty said:
I mean we totally changed what we were doing at both ends at halftime. Ball screens on offense and switching and drop coverage on defense. Plus shortening the bench and slowing the game down a bit. Tech, who were extremely well prepared for what we attacked them with in the first half, had no idea what hit them for the first 10-12 minutes of the second.

That leaves us with a bit of a mystery in the aftermath. Who are we?
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Right On Yes GIF by Christopher Pindling
 
#265      
jimbo72
I would trade Vaaks for Cruz Davis, everyday of the week. Ethans Defense is a 1 out of 10, will kill us in games. Tech gets JT Toppin back , Wow. They have it all. I guess we didn’t work on defending the pick and roll at all the past 4 months. Ouch, Ugly. How do you shoot so Awful from free throw line, with the players we have.
 
#266      
jimbo72
So proud of DGL, he's come so far! Coleman is a Balling Dog. What effort and desire!
 
#267      
Illiniguy13
ImGonnaBeILL said:
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.

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
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Yeah, I've defended Z quite a bit lately, but I'm officially stepping down from that podium. I just don't think he has the intangibles or feel for the game to be consistently effective, despite having all the physical tools in the world. Hard to believe he shot 38% from three during his first two years at Kentucky and Arkansas
 
#268      
Illinisnake
When you play against a lot of good guards that can get up and down the court with you, our style of offense isn’t always going to work. Have to have another option which is why I liked the ball screen options.
 
#269      
jimbo72
Just like last season, case UCLA. BigZ standing around under rim. Letting Floaters go in the Bucket! Should be depositing into stands. Not grabbing ball with AUTHORITY and keeping it HIGH. I would run him into the dirt. You get Paid to do that job, son. My goodness times up. Last season!
 
#270      
Rap47
Retro62 said:
Z needs to get the message that he is a rim protector and should do his work in the lane on both ends of the court. He is still a very valuable member of the team if he can focus on that — we have plenty of other guys who can shoot the three.
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How can he do work in the lane on offense if he is 22 ft. From the rim. The way they use Z on offense is the dumbest thing they could do. He is out of the lane so the others can penetrate so he is never going to get offensive rebounds. I believe if you look at the time he was in the game in the first half, his plus minus was about zero. He is playing like someone who knows if he makes a mistake, on the bench he goes. They could surely figure out a way to play an occasional high, low while he is in the game.
 
#273      
Chuck Nuggets
An entirely disappointing yet in no way surprising performance. The hype surrounding this team was way overblown, IMO. Very glad to see them find the fight to make it a close game, so that's encouraging.
 
#274      
Bigtex
IllinoisGrad0609 said:
On its own, this one stings. But, coupled with the Baylor exhibition, which was very similar, alarm bells have to be ringing in that locker room.
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Lot of similarities in Baylor and tech game.

Davis was best player on the court and wait till we face Fears.

Enjoy Coleman this year because he will be in the nba next year
 
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