If you look at the replays, many times he’s the ONLY orange jersey under the basket fighting three or four opponents for the rebound . . .
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Houston 68, Illinois 53 Postgame
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I’m curious if it’s that we see conference teams more often to scheme them and are just bad at game planning teams on shortened schedules
Not playing AC in the 2nd half was inexcusable, unless he was injured. If Frazier and Plummer aren't hitting shots, then the other team's defense can negate Kofi and we have no offense (especially if Williams is in), unless Curbelo is in the game. He is also a far better defensive player and rebounder than Plummer.
Unfortunately, I will be surprised if he comes back; I don't think he is particularly happy with how this season played out.
Unfortunately, I will be surprised if he comes back; I don't think he is particularly happy with how this season played out.
It's fine when what you are doing works. His defense this year largely did. But offense? Yikes. At least he went to his bench today. But man, his offensive "system" is brutal.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
17 turnovers, so many of them unforced and the result of poor judgment. Nine for Houston. That seemed the difference today.
I'll enjoy watching Houston the rest of their games. Really energetic, great ball movement, ferocious O rebounding, and a killer midrange game when that's all we gave them. Hats off to them.
I'll miss Trent and DMW so much. Sad for them to exit like this. Trent clearly not himself because of his eye. DMW off in general. Am thankful what they gave us all these years. We're not playing today without them. We don't raise a banner this season without them. This program is restored because of them.
So pleased with RJ and Luke today. Very excited about next fall. The future is bright. Turn the page.
I'll enjoy watching Houston the rest of their games. Really energetic, great ball movement, ferocious O rebounding, and a killer midrange game when that's all we gave them. Hats off to them.
I'll miss Trent and DMW so much. Sad for them to exit like this. Trent clearly not himself because of his eye. DMW off in general. Am thankful what they gave us all these years. We're not playing today without them. We don't raise a banner this season without them. This program is restored because of them.
So pleased with RJ and Luke today. Very excited about next fall. The future is bright. Turn the page.
Thanks to the all the players and coaches for three exciting seasons. Major Illinois sports has not been this exciting for many many years. I recognize there is heartbreak throughout the Chiefs lands, but keep the heads high. You made Illini nation proud today. Houston is not a 5 seed, more like a 2 or 3. Just like Loyola last year, we ran into a hot team. Thanks again for the year.
The Illini fans of 2012-2019 invite you to have a seat at their table where they can regale you with tales of their feats of failure . . .
sacraig
- The desert
Hmm? I never said I thought the freshman shouldn't get more time. I said that trust is earned and we have no idea what the freshmen have or have not done to earn it. Clearly they were huge today, which seems to add weight to the idea that they needed more time in earlier games.
“both” freshman? Paging Dr Freud.
Turnovers, not boxing out, being soft, and making easy plays into turnovers has nothing to do with making adjustments. I think Brad is hard headed for sure, but to blame him for this game is just silly. I guess you could blame him for leaving Damonte in, but he has done that forever.
Im looking forward to next year and having some new blood on the team. Not discounting what Frazier and Monte brought in terms of getting Illinois culture back, but it's time for some new guys to run the show.
both freshman that played today. Think Podz sticks around
Hopefully someone thing should be easy to see. We need longer more athletic guys that can shoot and finish at the rim Ayo was last year. Houston has a guy or two like that. As do some other teams. I think RJ can be that guy and hopefully some others. We can just rely on threes and a big man to score inside. Someone else needs to and needs some type of mud range game. We had both last year in Ayo but not this year. I'd love an athletic Malcom Hill type like he is now. I think RJ and maybe Harris will get stronger and have that quickness and explosiveness to finish. We need more of it.
I love our seniors and what they did here and they paid a foundation for us to build on.
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Have seen this coming for a while which takes some of the sting away. This team just hasn't been right for 5 or 6 weeks. And it's been much longer than that since we've been fully healthy.
It feels like the end of an era. One that gave us 2 banners, 2 jerseys for the rafters, more wins over the last 3 years than any other B1G team, and tons of great moments. We owe everything to these guys, particularly the seniors, for bringing us back to national prominence where we belong. But whenever I think back on this team and everything it has accomplished, it'll always be with the caveat that they could've done so much more.
We'll be back. Of that much I am sure.
It feels like the end of an era. One that gave us 2 banners, 2 jerseys for the rafters, more wins over the last 3 years than any other B1G team, and tons of great moments. We owe everything to these guys, particularly the seniors, for bringing us back to national prominence where we belong. But whenever I think back on this team and everything it has accomplished, it'll always be with the caveat that they could've done so much more.
We'll be back. Of that much I am sure.
Kofi has a chance to be Illinois all time points and rebounding leader in program history. If he does come back please, hire a bigman coach. A true bigs Coach that can help him! IMO, not having a true 4 down low is paramount to us taking another step as a program. Maybe he's on the bench sitting out from Baylor? I don't know?
Obviously, Trent’s eye was an issue. His vision made him reluctant adding another non-shooter to our usual rotation. They were daring Hawk, DMW, Curbelo to shoot. They couldn’t make them pay & they were getting killed on the boards.
We missed Jake.
Goode and Melendez gave us a spark, but if you have to rely on freshmen whose primary role has been the scout team, the ending won’t be happy. They hung in there but eventually cracked.
That’s a really good Houston team. Long athletes all over the court. Played great team ball.
Gonna be a wild next few weeks. A whole lot of questions to be answered.
Thanks to Phonz for the heaters. Some unreal displays.
Kofi is a colossus. Hopefully this isn’t the end of the road, but who knows? There is arguably no player more responsible for the turn around of this program. He has done the heavy lifting since he arrived.
Trent & DMW will always be linked. Tough, hardworking dudes that set the standard. I wish they got a better ending, but only one team goes home happy.
It just never came together this year, but that B1G banner will hang forever.
We missed Jake.
Goode and Melendez gave us a spark, but if you have to rely on freshmen whose primary role has been the scout team, the ending won’t be happy. They hung in there but eventually cracked.
That’s a really good Houston team. Long athletes all over the court. Played great team ball.
Gonna be a wild next few weeks. A whole lot of questions to be answered.
Thanks to Phonz for the heaters. Some unreal displays.
Kofi is a colossus. Hopefully this isn’t the end of the road, but who knows? There is arguably no player more responsible for the turn around of this program. He has done the heavy lifting since he arrived.
Trent & DMW will always be linked. Tough, hardworking dudes that set the standard. I wish they got a better ending, but only one team goes home happy.
It just never came together this year, but that B1G banner will hang forever.
We have all seen Curbelo score at will from 15ft on, it just hasn't been going in for him lately. Shead just happened to have one of his best games today. We didn't get that from any of our starters.
We lose to them 9 of 10 times. They're better. No matter who you play 50 pts/game won't get it done but may be once to advance
Imo our flaw’s on the offensive Side, in that we don’t have those player’s that can hit you from multiple ways. We’ve got a bunch of guy’s that can do one thing very well, which’s way easier to coach against. Melendez’s one that can hit you from different ways, we just need a guard who can also do that
Big man coaching? What? Kofi clearly has been very well coached.
Agree with you about adding a PF that can help him. Missed Giorgi this season.
Great year & love this team! Super disappointed but I know they are as well. Thank you Seniors for a ton of incredible memories. Hard to believe we had this game down 47-45, looked like we had a chance. Will miss seeing them out there, but at least we will have less stress in our lives watching the rest of this tourney. Kofi come back!
Farewell to the seniors, thank you for your presence, contributions, and for giving it your all. You'll always be remembered. Looking forward to next year already - go Illini!!!
www.espn.com
Houston 68-53 Illinois (Mar 20, 2022) Box Score - ESPN
Box score for the Houston Cougars vs. Illinois Fighting Illini NCAAM game from March 20, 2022 on ESPN. Includes all points, rebounds and steals stats.
sdfidaho
- Boise, Idaho
I’m certainly not saying Brad is blameless for this loss, but BU will take more of the blame on himself than I’m willing to give him for this loss, because he did make adjustments this game. Those adjustments allowed the team to come back and tie the game.
In the end though, he wasn’t the one missing wide open shots and he wasn’t the one inexplicably making passes directly to the opposing team.
The Loyola loss last year, now that’s a different story in my mind.
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