Pretty sure he wasn't hurt in the sense of an injury. He was cramping up. After his initial burst he looked tired. Then came the cramps. Practically everything he did was in the first 14 minutes of the game, after which he was a net negative for them. And that was as a direct result of how we played him, not just some coincidence.
Texas Tech 84, Illinois 78 Postgame
I don’t coach, so I’m not qualified to say like most people on the internet, but maybe a timeout just to tell the freshman to take a breath and give them a smile? Opposite of yelling at them
Agree with this, when Illini made the comeback early to tie it at 17, TT Coach called 2 timeouts back to back and then they regrouped and went on the big run til halftime.
I wonder if Mirk improved this summer, and if toppin regressed after not doing anything for a year?
Not one box out it that sequence
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
As others have pointed out, the environment there is night and day from SFC. I hope we eventually get a home crowd like that (our neutral site crowds tend to be really good).
Sample size is that they dominated us for the next 8 minutes after we had rallied to tie it up. Not sure what else matters. In this case that matters to Illini, they were correct. Don’t care about anything else.
As someone watching Mccasland in that timeout, I can assure you he was not telling his guys to smile.
That said, lets go. Its game 3. You're at Texas Tech. You're down an AA and another starter. Place is on fire. Welcome to big time basketball, time to learn - we don't need to demand Brad make kids smile everytime the other team goes on a 4-0 run.
I could easily make the case those dudes playing through it in the first half, prepped them to be much calmer and collected in the second half. And will do far more good for them in the long run.
Right, so sample size is 8 minutes lol
Not sure what smiling has to do with timeouts? Stops momentum, regroup, point out things and make adjustments.
The main purpose of timeouts is to stop momentum (while making adjustments if needed).
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Calling timeouts to stop momentum is a philosophy thing.
The greatest to ever do it, argue against it:
Phil Jackson: In his memoir, Eleven Rings, he explained his decision to withhold timeouts when opponents had momentum. He noted that when a coach steps in too quickly, players stop reading the floor and start waiting for answers from the bench. By letting the game continue, he forced his players to recognize momentum shifts, communicate, and solve problems on their own.
Dean Smith: He detailed this strategy in his own memoir, A Coach's Life, as well as his leadership book, The Carolina Way. He explained that if he had properly prepared his players in practice, they should be able to recognize mistakes, adjust, and play through adversity without him rescuing them from the bench. Further detailed that timeouts are strictly for clock management and late-game execution rather than emotional resets or coddling.
John Wooden: In his autobiography, They Call Me Coach, he explained that he rarely called timeouts to stop an opponent's momentum or draw up plays. He famously wrote that games are won in practice, not on the bench, and if he had to interrupt the game to tell his players what to do, he had failed as a teacher during the week. Also noted that players develop true court leadership and self-control only when they are trusted to solve spacing and defensive breakdowns on their own in real time.
The greatest to ever do it, argue against it:
Phil Jackson: In his memoir, Eleven Rings, he explained his decision to withhold timeouts when opponents had momentum. He noted that when a coach steps in too quickly, players stop reading the floor and start waiting for answers from the bench. By letting the game continue, he forced his players to recognize momentum shifts, communicate, and solve problems on their own.
Dean Smith: He detailed this strategy in his own memoir, A Coach's Life, as well as his leadership book, The Carolina Way. He explained that if he had properly prepared his players in practice, they should be able to recognize mistakes, adjust, and play through adversity without him rescuing them from the bench. Further detailed that timeouts are strictly for clock management and late-game execution rather than emotional resets or coddling.
John Wooden: In his autobiography, They Call Me Coach, he explained that he rarely called timeouts to stop an opponent's momentum or draw up plays. He famously wrote that games are won in practice, not on the bench, and if he had to interrupt the game to tell his players what to do, he had failed as a teacher during the week. Also noted that players develop true court leadership and self-control only when they are trusted to solve spacing and defensive breakdowns on their own in real time.
Some commenter in the game thread expressed shock ghat the Tech fans appeared to be booing qc when he went down with a leg issue. I was there and the crowd was indeed booing. They take great pride there in being known as a rude crowd. And i was surprised that every basket and free throw was accompanied by an explosion of cheer. It was a hostile environment.
Illinois was 18/23 on shots in the paint.
Texas Tech was 15/30.
Texas Tech was 15/30.
Illinois is 78/101 on shots in the paint this season.
2nd best percentage in the country:
(note: the team that’s #1 has only played 1 game)
….
Our 2pt percentage is 76.9%, which is #1 in the country:
….
Our spacing creates highly efficient shots inside the arc.
iLL 89ers
- Dallas,TX.......Born and raised in Alton,Illinois
Texas Tech, played better end of story. No Toppin them...no Mirk us( and probably, and more then likely we don't get out rebounded). But I'm confident if both them played, this is a different ballgame. To all the fans who think Illinois is not a top five team in the country? That is your opinion. My opinion is we have the best frontcourt in the nation when Tomi, Mirk and Drej start. QC, Williams, Zens, Brown just learned from this game as true freshman. Vaaks and Z ( stop shooting three's after you miss your first one hundred three's or start one for one hundred (enter sarcasm)....go get a bucket downhill...back ball screen, back-cut off ball action...Tech not worried about Z chucking three's-that's a win everyday for Tech.....maybe a few more rebounds if Z is eight feet near the board's and not twenty five feet away) better play better or playing time might dwindle big time when Mirk returns. This offense will be totally different when Mirk returns, hoping we see Jake again this year. Stay blessed Illini' Nation and happy Holiday season's to all.....and it's okay to practice free throws.
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Not sure how we can say this at all. The entire 2nd half run was made before DGL got hurt. He subbed out the last time with 6:24 to go and the score was 62-65.
United Supermarkets Arena:
4,000 seats or about 26% of the stadium's capacity is dedicated to students.
Something like 3,200 to 3,500 of those student seats are in the lower bowl.
State Farm Center:
3,000 seats or about 19% of the stadium's capacity is dedicated to students.
Only 1,200 of those are in the lower bowl.
4,000 seats or about 26% of the stadium's capacity is dedicated to students.
Something like 3,200 to 3,500 of those student seats are in the lower bowl.
State Farm Center:
3,000 seats or about 19% of the stadium's capacity is dedicated to students.
Only 1,200 of those are in the lower bowl.
Yeah, listen I love Assembly Hall (SFC), and may catch flack for criticizing its layout, but seeing places like Breslin and Allen Fieldhouse or United Supermarkets Arena, I just don’t think ours cuts it for creating a truly hostile away environment for visiting teams.
I’m a homer through and through with the best of them, but I think the way the seating is currently set up, and really all that’s even possible, doesn’t allow for those walls of noise that seem to envelope the court and make it suffocating.
We definitely lost to TTU from our poor FT shooting. And have had bad FT at home, sure, but some of Tuesday night was because the crowd rattled us big time. I don’t have the stats, but I would argue our home court doesn’t impact visitors as much as some of the other big name arenas do.
And maybe it’s the broadcast, I think Krush can still be improved, but there’s only so much our arena layout can allow for, and at least on the broadcast, it looks like it’s only 7-10 rows high from behind the score board and one section on the side that sits far back from the hoop.
I get our renovations went to creating premium seating experience for alumni and recruits, but maybe we could have spent it more on creating a layout for the lower bowl that felt more suffocating? I just think our home court advantage seems to be more that the crowd or atmosphere isn’t cheering against us, rather than rattling opponents at the high major level.