Game Thread: Illinois vs UConn

[zuma]

Tomi has either regressed or is still hurt.

 

[rdk573]

It’s November but issues that plagued last year team are rearing its ugly head with this team. Not good.

Fans keep posting this point after every game claiming our issues easly fixable..At this point, I am convinced these issues will plague us all year and unless we shoot lights out from 3, we will lose against top competition.

 

[TheodoreRex]

We were able to stick with Bama because they play just as undisciplined ball as we do... Ain't gonna work against Uconn- they are too well coached and too tough to beat- we lose this by 20+

 

[FightinIllini30]

We shoot everything so short. Do we run 5 miles before every game?

I don’t have much trust in Brad to make better adjustments than Hurley after the half

I don’t trust Brad to win big games… ever. I’m a Brad underwood fan but anyone who has been watching this team the past few years saw this soft start from miles away

 

[Oracle21]

I thought only Boswell and Brandon Lee gave the team some good minutes. Petro can get into the lane most times and kick out for 3s but having your bigs fire away from out there isn’t good offense. Mirk killed possessions with his 0-4 from 3.

Very doubtful they get back in this game but I’ve seen enough from Lee to think he deserves some minutes. He’s athletic and can defend something we lack.

 

[ThePortalMadeMeDoIt]

This has a lot of work to do to be final four material. Defense is just not good enough, Tomi is just not good enough, Dre doesn't see the floor good enough. Kylan giving up cheap fouls is not good enough and David outside shooting is not good enough.

 

[80'sIllini]

So many of our missed shots are short. Once again, a team has incredible shooting against us. We just aren't tough enough against these high level teams except for Boswell but he's not great at setting up teammates for easy shots. AS doing nothing in this game and one has to wonder if he is good enough to finish his paint touch shots against high level competition and/or not turn the ball over.

 

[BrownTown]

Mirk needs to be given the full stop red light from 3.

It looks Ty Rodgers --full yips/mental block-- bad coming out of his hands.

 

[LJ22]

I don’t trust Brad to win big games… ever. I’m a Brad underwood fan but anyone who has been watching this team the past few years saw this soft start from miles away

It's pretty much a guarantee that we go through about four minutes of flatness early in the second half.

 

[CleverHandle1]

Issues are not going away. Way I feel at this point, they are another R2 loss.

 

[PepeSilvia]

I think it's kind of funny that Mihailo, offensively, knows how to work with a pick-and-roll inside and out, but defensively, has no idea how to get around a pick to save his life.

It's crazy to expect your guard to go over pnrs and not hedge or anything.

 

[OB positive]

Pretty rich Hurley whining about moving screen call when we just watched a replay of Karabans three where Reibe got away with two of them in the same action.

 

[Mistakenj]

Agreed. I would love to root for a team where you have a coaching advantage most nights. Underwood seems to be the Ron Zook of basketball.

 

[rdk573]

Did the defense improve late in the half or did we just start getting calls and UConn started missing?

If you noticed, the pace slowed considerably. I don't know if that was intentional on UCONN's part or was us

 

[chief]

what is wrong with tori

 

[Iamgroot]

It’s crazy what happens when you have a player that defends like Brandon Lee.

Sigh really makes you miss buck

 

[chief]

what is wrong with tori

what is wrong with Tomi

 

[DeeIL89]

We are a second tier team. Good not great. Until defense gets better and chemistry is there with the lineup we will remain a second tier team.

 

[FloridaMan]

what is wrong with tori

Looks like his give a damn is broken.

 

[BlueLeader]

Please recruit ATHLETES next year!

 

[SkyysNotFalling]

Basketball comes down to putting the orange thing in the 10 foot thing. And we aren’t good at that. Missed layups and wide open threes clank, UConn doesn’t miss those. That’s pretty much the whole difference here… yall hear that story before?

 

[gshaw5142]

Still amazed how we continue to let their best player have a mf day on us every time. Cannot let the opps best player beat you and we always do

 

[SemperFiIllini]

Every big game I become less and less a fan of BUs coaching.

 

[DICKnaggie]

Lee played his butt off on defense. Great minutes from him, but we need the rest of the team to follow.

 

[Iamgroot]

Lee played his butt off on defense. Great minutes from him, but we need the rest of the team to follow.

It's pretty bad that we got to look to a true freshman for some defensive intensity smh