Arizona 83, Illinois 79 Postgame

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#77      

EllderIlliniFan

EllderIlliniFan
EllderIlliniFan
Kofi makes his 3 free throws, is it a different game? Hawkins needs more experience. He reaches in way too much for obvious silly fouls and seems to be thinking too much on offense. With more game time, he will improve.
 
#79      

IlliniInCAN

I
IlliniInCAN
Fantastic college basketball game/atmosphere. Unfortunate to be on the wrong side, but the team played with a lot of heart and toughness. This type of game should only makes us better in the long run.
 
#81      

ElGran

E
ElGran
illini80 said:
I need to go back and re-read the pregame thread. Lol
We are good but incomplete right now. All the pieces are there but they need some tweaking to fit the way we need. We will get there. And….. The turnovers have to stop.
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We're missing a key piece and that's a PG. Most important player on the floor.
 
#82      

purcy51

P
Nappanee, IN
purcy51
OrangeNBrood said:
We are a very good team.

We have the firepower, the tools to play with anybody. We are a matchup problem for just about anybody. Most teams won't be able to bother Kofi even remotely close to what Arizona did - and with less mistakes, we beat Arizona today. We'll have schematic advantages against anyone we face with Cockburn and our array of long range shooters, who can also all drive past closeout defenders.

Our Achilles is our margin of error. Our decision-making in critical situations. The 8-10 point run that we assisted Arizona with in the first half was huge (we freely invited them back into the game at a moment when our crowd was bugging out and the Wildcats were looking flustered), as were a number of bonehead possessions/poor shots/turnovers we had in the final 6-8 minutes.

I'm hoping Curbelo's return and his maturation will help with all this, as he'll be able to create, and dictate opportunities for his teammates down the stretch (like @Indiana last year, for example, and numerous other instances). Game experience will also help, as some of our players are very obviously still figuring out what they should be doing in certain game situations - guys like Coleman Hawkins, for example, are still learning their own identities as players and, importantly, how *not* to hurt the team when they're on the court.

Overall, I'm encouraged. This game showed that the Iowa win was no fluke, and that we do indeed have the upside potential we spent the entire off season day-dreaming about.

Today, you saw two very good teams who have both yet to approach the upper limits of their potential. I'm personally ready to go on a stomping spree with our opponents ahead, re-integrate Curbelo, and be feeling real good about the Illini come 2022.

Much love to you all. No one should be feeling too bad or too heavy after this game. Ironically, life is short, but college basketball seasons are reasonably long. Gotta have gratitude for what we have and savor all the precious moments along the way...
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This. 100% this.
 
#83      

Hope4better

Hope4better
Hope4better
This team has to get more scoring from the bench. Having AC back will help give us a better bench and hopefully the freshmen will lengthen our bench as the season goes along
 
#84      

WyattEarp

WyattEarp
WyattEarp
GallopingGhost said:
Really I don’t care who scores as long as the final score looks good. You really think Goode or DW jacking threes would have been better than Plummer and Frazier?
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No, but game in, game out…having more guys in the scoring column is generally considered a good thing. Correct? One dimensional teams don’t go far come March.

We’ve had several games of late without balanced scoring. Some of these other dudes will surely step-up (more consistently) as the season goes along.
 
#86      

SuperMetroid

SuperMetroid
Evanston
SuperMetroid
mg93 said:
The no call on Kofi’s shot at 2:05 that led to the 3-1 break was simply atrocious. Obviously we had our chances after that to come back, but that was what I felt sealed the game.

Kofi being such a dominating presence doesn’t mean that fouls suddenly aren’t fouls.
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Yeah that was an absolute killer. From Kofi shooting 2 FT for the lead to a freebie for them and we’re down 3.
 
#87      

frozenrope9190

frozenrope9190
Aurora, IL
frozenrope9190
This is the type of loss where I'm OK watching more college basketball games afterward, and not shut my TV and computer off in a huff.

Illinois is good, guys. We're still without AC, and we played a really good team down to the wire. Hats off to the Wildcats, who are gonna be Top 5 ranked by Monday (certainly ahead of Kentucky, for those who saw that final score).
 
#88      

JSpence

J
Evansville, IN
JSpence
WSIOTCSS said:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1469825384069971972
Well There It Is Jurassic Park GIF

yikes
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But... they also could have won with one more missed shot by Arizona. Would we be talking about that at ALL if that were the case?

It's one measurable way that Arizona had a bit of an easier go of it, but it didn't LOSE the game. It's odd, but it wasn't a yikes.
 
#90      

BlueLeader

BlueLeader
BlueLeader
DWill really needs to get his head in the game. If he isn't going to be asked to contribute offensively he can't be making those dumb mistakes with the ball. Not to mention the extra curricular issues that kept it close in the 1st half. Hawkins really needs to play like the man he should be. He's a beast and should be playing with power especially under the basket.

Back breaker with Trent playing absolutely out of his mind that they couldn't come together for this one.
 
#91      

JustPassing

J
JustPassing
grantlab said:
Really don’t understand this… would you rather Plummer give it up and have Monte shooting 3s…? We got good looks almost the entire game. Sure, Payne was a pretty big liability and non-factor on the offensive end, but just because only 4 guys scored doesn’t mean we didn’t execute. Honestly, the lack of a pure PG was the biggest missing factor for us, as turnovers really killed us in the worst possible moments.
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Williams + Hawkins + Goode + Bosman + Melendez + Payne = 0

Frazier + Plummer + Cockburn + Grandison = 79

As coach just said (on the radio) we are not tough enough to win such games
 
#92      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
OrangeNBrood said:
We are a very good team.

We have the firepower, the tools to play with anybody. We are a matchup problem for just about anybody. Most teams won't be able to bother Kofi even remotely close to what Arizona did - and with less mistakes, we beat Arizona today. We'll have schematic advantages against anyone we face with Cockburn and our array of long range shooters, who can also all drive past closeout defenders.

Our Achilles is our margin of error. Our decision-making in critical situations. The 8-10 point run that we assisted Arizona with in the first half was huge (we freely invited them back into the game at a moment when our crowd was bugging out and the Wildcats were looking flustered), as were a number of bonehead possessions/poor shots/turnovers we had in the final 6-8 minutes.

I'm hoping Curbelo's return and his maturation will help with all this, as he'll be able to create, and dictate opportunities for his teammates down the stretch (like @Indiana last year, for example, and numerous other instances). Game experience will also help, as some of our players are very obviously still figuring out what they should be doing in certain game situations - guys like Coleman Hawkins, for example, are still learning their own identities as players and, importantly, how *not* to hurt the team when they're on the court.

Overall, I'm encouraged. This game showed that the Iowa win was no fluke, and that we do indeed have the upside potential we spent the entire off season day-dreaming about.

Today, you saw two very good teams who have both yet to approach the upper limits of their potential. I'm personally ready to go on a stomping spree with our opponents ahead, re-integrate Curbelo, and be feeling real good about the Illini come 2022.

Much love to you all. No one should be feeling too bad or too heavy after this game. Ironically, life is short, but college basketball seasons are reasonably long. Gotta have gratitude for what we have and savor all the precious moments along the way...
Click to expand...
friday-after-next-friday.gif
 
#93      

GallopingGhost

GallopingGhost
Denver, CO
GallopingGhost
illini80 said:
I need to go back and re-read the pregame thread. Lol
We are good but incomplete right now. All the pieces are there but they need some tweaking to fit the way we need. We will get there. And….. The turnovers have to stop.
Click to expand...
The turnovers will never stop. They just won’t. We’ve tried to fix it for 2+ years now. We will always be a little sloppy. But we also will always rebound hard and shoot well.
 
#95      

sully

sully
sully
frozenrope9190 said:
Damn.

Ah, well. Much rather have this and beating Iowa on the road than beating Arizona and losing to Iowa.
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True. While I can't stand losing to a dirtbag trashy program like Arizona , I'm glad we pulled off a road win at Iowa.
Hoping Curbelo gets his groove back because we definitely need him.
 
#96      

ejam21

E
ejam21
FloridaMan said:
Good game, terrible execution at critical times. This team should still be ranked in the top 25. Michigan and Wisconsin (AYFKM) are in no way better than us. We are what we are at this point though. A TO prone team who has to shoot lights out to have a chance. Too many scoreless stretches with guys just standing. I thought the tech on DMW was the turning point. Up a ton with major momentum, let them get back to within 4 at half. Really hurt.
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i thought when we were up 13 with the crowd at a fever pitch and plummer throwing a lazy pass leading to an and 1 was the turning point. Had a good chance to keep hte foot on the gas..they went on like a 12-0 run after that (and yes the tech was part of that but hte momentum swung prior IMO)
 
#99      

logjam

logjam
logjam
illiniguy24 said:
Kofi also hurt us some, he absolutely can’t miss 10 shots in a game where he takes 15.

This team will be good, especially if we get Belo back. I still have faith that it will be a great season.
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He seemed to be rushing a little tonight.
 
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