Illinois 103, Monmouth 65 Postgame

#27      

Loyalillini10

L
Urbana, IL
Loyalillini10
I remember telling some folks to cool down on the “Epps looks like the odd Freshman out” talk after the first game. He is a solid player and will only continue to get better.

Also, TSJ is good at basketball.
 
#28      

blackdog

blackdog
Champaign
blackdog
Game was a lot of fun but man that was the most pathetic crowd I have seen for a top 25 team. Maybe about half full at best.

Shannon is everything advertised and more. His hustle is something special.

Mayer looked like he was stretching his back several times during the game. I don't think he's ever going to be healthy this season.

Epps and Clark both looked really good. Clark to Dain on the pick and roll was a thing of beauty in the first half.

The coaching staff was pretty hard on RJ but he definitely looked better on the offensive side today.
 
#29      

Oldskoolkoach

O
Oldskoolkoach
blackdog said:
Game was a lot of fun but man that was the most pathetic crowd I have seen for a top 25 team. Maybe about half full at best.

Shannon is everything advertised and more. His hustle is something special.

Mayer looked like he was stretching his back several times during the game. I don't think he's ever going to be healthy this season.

Epps and Clark both looked really good. Clark to Dain on the pick and roll was a thing of beauty in the first half.

The coaching staff was pretty hard on RJ but he definitely looked better on the offensive side today.
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8:00 start on a work/school night. I used to never miss, but I will miss some of the late games this year. 1230 by time I get home and work 12+ the day after kicks my arse.
 
#34      

sunman

sunman
sunman
Miles Leonard said:
Ball movement had me tearing up. The possession where we had 14 passes was 05-esque. Just beautiful.

Let's see how we stack up in Vegas. I for one cannot wait.
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I wish we had a few more games under our belts before these games. But that’s just me.
 
#35      

One Man Fast Break

O
One Man Fast Break
This team is both quite deep and also very shallow by virtue of leaving the 13th scholarship open, Perrin not qualifying, Goode's injury and Lieb being one of the scholarship players. One more injury before Goode comes back would be very concerning. All of the Freshmen look good, which is encouraging, but the big test for each of them will be this weekend with the significant step up in competition.
 
#36      

jason88cubs

J
jason88cubs
Maybe I am looking too much into it, but Hawkins has had a rough last 2 games and towards the end of the game didn't have the greatest body language on the bench and had T.A. in his ear

Anyone think there could be a issue where Hawkins expected to be the top dog the team when it's now clearly Shannon's team?
 
#37      

IlliniForceOne

IlliniForceOne
IlliniForceOne
jason88cubs said:
Maybe I am looking too much into it, but Hawkins has had a rough last 2 games and towards the end of the game didn't have the greatest body language on the bench and had T.A. in his ear

Anyone think there could be an issue where Hawkins expected to be the top dog the team when it's now clearly Shannon's team?
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Coleman needs to grow up. He’s had these issues since he arrived on campus.
 
#38      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
jason88cubs said:
Maybe I am looking too much into it, but Hawkins has had a rough last 2 games and towards the end of the game didn't have the greatest body language on the bench and had T.A. in his ear

Anyone think there could be a issue where Hawkins expected to be the top dog the team when it's now clearly Shannon's team?
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I wouldn’t read too much into things. Not a great game for him with 5 turnovers, and he tends to wear his heart on his sleeve. Add in the optics of Brad yelling at him or TA in his ear, and I think to us fans it can look bad. And I’m sure TSJ’s role and status on the team isn’t something he’s only realizing now. I’m sure it was fairly apparent in practices. He has a lot to play for with regards to this season as well as his future. He’s fine.

But if he truly is butt hurt about TSJ being top dog as you surmise, then do something about it. Since the great first half against EIU, he’s shot 6 of 18 from field (0-6 from 3) with 6 turnovers. Now he’s done plenty of other good things during that span, but players tend to dwell on poor shooting and TOs.
 
#39      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

No. 19 Illinois men's basketball cruises past Monmouth behind Terrence Shannon Jr.

No. 19 Illini cruised past Monmouth for a 103-65 win behind 30 points from Terrence Shannon Jr. and 21 from Jayden Epps.
www.stltoday.com www.stltoday.com

ANDERSON KIMBALL
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois got off to a furious start with three buckets in the first minute, and that was par for the course on a high-scoring night.
The No. 19 Illini cruised past Monmouth for a 103-65 win behind 30 points from Terrence Shannon Jr. and 21 from Jayden Epps. The Illini were up 8-0 just 52 seconds into the game and never trailed.
After starting the last game 1-for-18 from the field, the Illini made their first five shots and started 13-for-16 from the field.

Illinois never trailed against a buy game opponent in its tuneup for games against UCLA and either Virginia or Baylor later this week.
Shannon made a couple of early 3s and got out in the open court where he was a blur. After tying his career-high in the season-opener he set his career high in the first 25 minutes.
Shannon was the first Illinois player to get 30 points in a game since Kofi Cockburn had 37 against Wisconsin in February.
Shannon has quickly become the Illini’s top scoring option and is averaging 22.7 points through three games — more than double his scoring average of 10.4 points from last year at Texas Tech.
 
#41      

Mistakenj

M
Mistakenj
Coleman is too seasoned to still look incredulous after every foul call. Also, during the KC game, I saw him get in the player’s face that he yammed on.

I like his game, but he’s annoying as hell with that attitude. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if he was a player on another team….think Mulcahy.
 
#42      

One Man Fast Break

O
One Man Fast Break
He had a rough game yesterday going 1-5 with 4 turnovers along with 2 quick first half fouls, we know he can be better than that... if he was able to withstand his temper tantrums and Underwood screaming at him all the time to return when he could have had his pick of schools to transfer to, then I think we can just chalk it up to that being who he is. Plenty of good NBA players are still having emotional meltdowns on a nightly basis. That's just how some competitive people behave, even if it's not something you'd want to impart onto youngsters ;)

Only thing that really bothers me is he was getting worked up like that in a game the team was dominating start to finish. These home games against no name opponents have a tendency to turn into "stat" games where guys go all out to build up their averages. I know Hawkins is a guy that has dreams of playing in the NBA so I'm speculating on if that was what was on his mind last night, but he's going to need to focus on doing what he needs to do to help the win and the NBA scouting will follow that, and now focus on what he needs to do to show off for scouts, which could end up having the opposite intended effect.
 
#43      

john1952

john1952
john1952
young Christopher Walken.jpg


Christopher Walken in his younger days would be happy :) :)
 
#45      

Illinirog70

Illinirog70
Illinirog70
I liked Coach Underwood's simple philosophy on defense--no threes, no fouls, no lay-ups. Doesn't leave much for the other team to capitalize on. Now let's see how it plays out against the "big boys" this week-end.

I've got to believe that this will be when our older, more experienced players will shine, as they have been through these wars. The Kids have never played on a foreign or neutral court before, except the secret scrimmage... But they will grow up fast!
 
#46      

CharliedonSurf

C
CharliedonSurf
Mistakenj said:
Coleman is too seasoned to still look incredulous after every foul call. Also, during the KC game, I saw him get in the player’s face that he yammed on.

I like his game, but he’s annoying as hell with that attitude. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if he was a player on another team….think Mulcahy.
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Yeah and against lower tier competition somehow makes it worse for me. I mean save it maybe for someone you are on par with or better. It just seemed like a bad look against teams we are supposed to dominate.
 
#47      

Oldskoolkoach

O
Oldskoolkoach
Manual3for4peat said:
I legit love all four of our freshman. All of them are big time.

This weekend should be fun. Let’s get some quad 1 wins.
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This weekend will be a process for almost all of our guys. As will playing in new venues throughout the year. The baskets look different. The sounds are different. The ball bounces different. The rims bounce different.

We will have plenty of WTF moments, but I love this entire team. We are DEEP, 1-9(10)
 
#49      

Illini in Indiana

I
Indiana
Illini in Indiana
I think we'll be able to count on 3 things every game. TS scoring & getting to the line, SC running the show efficiently, and TR giving us winning plays.
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Looks like we will play 9 with very little loss, and we'll have to figure out who is hot each night.