Illinois 112, McKendree 65 POSTGAME
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EfremWinters84
- S. Carolina
Just finished watching on TiVo delay. Thinking I nailed it with my pre-game predictions!
JCL - he will undoubtedly shoot well this season. 2 games a slump does not make. However, I really think he needs to get into the paint on occasion. He's way too 1-dimensional right now. I thought his off-season development would have focused on scoring off the dribble
TJL - smooth; quick. Very encouraging! I like him running the floor for us, and thinking pass-first. But I also want his 6-10 points per game potential. I hope his game progresses during the non-conference so that he gets significant minutes in the Big 10 season.
Tracy - is it really possible that he becomes a reincarnation of Kendall Gill (with his outside shot developing out of nowhere)? I liked what I saw of him tonight! He was square to the basket and fluid all night long.
JCL - he will undoubtedly shoot well this season. 2 games a slump does not make. However, I really think he needs to get into the paint on occasion. He's way too 1-dimensional right now. I thought his off-season development would have focused on scoring off the dribble
TJL - smooth; quick. Very encouraging! I like him running the floor for us, and thinking pass-first. But I also want his 6-10 points per game potential. I hope his game progresses during the non-conference so that he gets significant minutes in the Big 10 season.
Tracy - is it really possible that he becomes a reincarnation of Kendall Gill (with his outside shot developing out of nowhere)? I liked what I saw of him tonight! He was square to the basket and fluid all night long.
blackdog
- Champaign
I wouldn't say Tracy's shot has come out of nowhere considering he has had 2 years of doing almost nothing but shooting jumpers to work on it.
I would think his injuries would have prevented Jim from shooting jumpers for much of that time.
They are a D2 school. I don't get how anyone can take anything from this game. Especially only a +10 rebounding margin.
Maybe I am missing something. Tracy Abrams and Kendall Gill are/were 2 different players. I appreciate what Abrams brings to the table, but he is not Kendall Gill.
If we would have lost the game would you have taken anything from it? If the answer is still no then no response is needed.
This game should be treated like an exhibition game in that you look for areas where we need the most improvement for us to feel better about the season. JCL got his shooting touch back and Lucas got plenty of minutes. The only thing that would have made this game better for me is if Thorne would have shot better. We're not magically going to become a top rebounding team, although Black and an in-shape Thorne helps, but we accomplished some important goals and that should make fans feel a bit more optimistic. Let's see if that progress translates into the next game.
We looked far better than we did in the two "real" exhibition games where the opponents were not significantly weaker than McKendree. Will this carry over to games against D1 teams with winning records? I don't know, but it does seem like a step in the right direction at least.
Deleted member 14522
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Good to see Lucas on the floor last night. Effort looked good. I liked the unselfishness of the team. We have so many options to run out on the court. Was Leron Black on the bench last night?
It's about the feels.
This is our first impressive blow-out. As it's D2, I'm not sure it even counts, but none-the-less, we played hard enough to keep the score differential going up. We also got to see players deep into the bench, which is always kind of fun. Personally, I love that Hill only had 3. I hope Groce told him before the game to help everyone else score --not necessarily score himself. We also saw some flashes of bench players. I tend to agree with you that flashes against a weak team don't mean consistency, and certainly don't mean consistency against good teams, but it's a first step.
I get the skepticism, I think we all have it, but enjoy the moment --they tend to be short lived in sports.
Nobody is comparing him to Kendall Gill as a player. All they were saying is his 3 point shot "came out of nowhere" like Kendall Gill's did. Nothing to do with the types of players they are.
618 Illini
- Chicago
Couple of thoughts from watching about half of the game:
1. Love seeing Tejon out there and think he could be a major plus for the team this year as a spark plug and wrinkle to the offense off the bench (if he gets acquainted with the defense/offense). He seems super comfortable with the ball in his hands and the offense seems more fluid with him starting it.
2. Thorne still seems out of shape and I am a little concerned. I hope his stamina increases dramatically because when we match up with the high major teams I think he will struggle against the typical lean and athletic posts that now seem to run the game. I like what he brings to the offense for the most part but I doubt he will stay in many games due to foul trouble on the defensive end trying to play catch up. Not worried about missing some of the bunnies on offense as he is typically pretty sound there.
3. I predict there will be a game this year where DJ Williams will absolutely take over. His game is super impressive and if/when he puts it all together, he can be very tough to
stop. He shows flashes of his athleticism and scoring ability but it tends to fade off and on.
4. I understand it was a D-II and expect the high turnover & rebounding margin; however, if you watch the game closely you see that the majority of these rebounds/turnovers were driven by "hustle plays" and not necessarily skill difference between D-II and D-I. The balance of our team will allow us to score game in and game out, but the defense and hustle plays will make this team very tough to beat. Happy to see we won the hustle plays and hope this trend continues.
5. Good to see the team can put up 100+ without Malcolm offensively. I think we can all agree that JCL would veer back to his shooting percentage so no surprise there. I wish he would add some dribble/drive to his game more frequently to be less one dimensional but I think that will come as the game slows for him. If we get to a point where we have Malcolm, JCL and Tracy all beating their man off the dribble, I think the offense will open up and we will have wide open shots.
Overall, very happy that we beat up on a lesser team right off the tip like we are supposed to and I am super excited to see this team develop throughout the year.
Go ILLINI!
1. Love seeing Tejon out there and think he could be a major plus for the team this year as a spark plug and wrinkle to the offense off the bench (if he gets acquainted with the defense/offense). He seems super comfortable with the ball in his hands and the offense seems more fluid with him starting it.
2. Thorne still seems out of shape and I am a little concerned. I hope his stamina increases dramatically because when we match up with the high major teams I think he will struggle against the typical lean and athletic posts that now seem to run the game. I like what he brings to the offense for the most part but I doubt he will stay in many games due to foul trouble on the defensive end trying to play catch up. Not worried about missing some of the bunnies on offense as he is typically pretty sound there.
3. I predict there will be a game this year where DJ Williams will absolutely take over. His game is super impressive and if/when he puts it all together, he can be very tough to
stop. He shows flashes of his athleticism and scoring ability but it tends to fade off and on.
4. I understand it was a D-II and expect the high turnover & rebounding margin; however, if you watch the game closely you see that the majority of these rebounds/turnovers were driven by "hustle plays" and not necessarily skill difference between D-II and D-I. The balance of our team will allow us to score game in and game out, but the defense and hustle plays will make this team very tough to beat. Happy to see we won the hustle plays and hope this trend continues.
5. Good to see the team can put up 100+ without Malcolm offensively. I think we can all agree that JCL would veer back to his shooting percentage so no surprise there. I wish he would add some dribble/drive to his game more frequently to be less one dimensional but I think that will come as the game slows for him. If we get to a point where we have Malcolm, JCL and Tracy all beating their man off the dribble, I think the offense will open up and we will have wide open shots.
Overall, very happy that we beat up on a lesser team right off the tip like we are supposed to and I am super excited to see this team develop throughout the year.
Go ILLINI!
Dj reminds me of what hill was a few years back. DJ needs to learn all he can from Hill. Odds he becomes as versatile and offensively adept as Hill? Low, but I think DJ is more athletic and will be a better dribble driver.
As for Tracy, he always had an average three pt shot. He could hit the open ones and when the game needed him to, sometimes contested ones. I'm just glad he's stop trying all those floaters/tear drop shots from the FT line... Everytime he shot one I'd cringe. I remember streaming a B1G tourney game my freshman year where I swear he missed 5 of those types of shots... Philosophy professor wasnt happy when I shouted some expletives in the middle of a lecture
Who's this Jim, and why is he shooting jumpers?
The Loosiers are really gonna be upset if Jimmy Chitwood spurned them and finally made his college choice the Illini
A bit of a cupcake win, but fun to watch. About 2/3 of those opportunities won't be there when we start playing the big boys. I'm watching MSU play and I think we'll have the height disadvantage when we play them. I do like they fought until the end. Good game to get a good game under our belt and to get all the guys some experience (especially TJL). However, I thought that Thorne was rushing a bit which caused him to miss a number of shots. Hopefully that slows down for him over the next couple of weeks and he starts to make those bunnies. AJ also seems to not have taken that same leap that DJ has or JCL has this year. Seems like he still is a step behind a bit. Shot when open was good..but again, how often is he going to get those shots when we start big10 play? Lastly, TA has really stepped up his shooting prowess. Now he is a real weapon from the 3 point line! I'm curious what we start to do when we start hitting the meat of the competition.
Deleted member 3875
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Tom Michael's kid can flat out shoot. What a pretty jump shot. Too bad he's a bit on the scrawny side, he would be a nice D-1 shooting option for a lot of teams.
You absolutely can take things away from this game, good and bad. First off it is a confidence booster. The team is in high spirits after a win like that and that is key for a team that has struggled for the past couple of years. It is also builds the confidence of the young kids. After having 2 bad shooting games for JCL, a game like this will motivate him more. You also get to work on things in this game that you may not be able to work on in a real game situation any other time. Such as plays, rotations and more. Every team plays a game like this.
Nice to get a big win, have some fun and feel good about yourself.
I didn't watch the entire game because it just wasn't very compelling and my son preferred watching the other big games that were on but we did watch parts. One observation from the game is that I'm amazed that Mav appears to have relatively quick feet on the offensive end. I would like to see that foot quickness show up on the defensive end. I hope it does because we need it.
I didn't watch the entire game because it just wasn't very compelling and my son preferred watching the other big games that were on but we did watch parts. One observation from the game is that I'm amazed that Mav appears to have relatively quick feet on the offensive end. I would like to see that foot quickness show up on the defensive end. I hope it does because we need it.
Not sure what MSU team you were watching. They have 3 active players over 6'5". Injuries have really hurt their rotation. Our bigs have a huge advantage.
Lol...I'm not all that old, but I don't think that was possible when I went to school. We just good old fashioned ditched class.
Captain Bubbles
- Fairfield, IL
I'm liking what I've seen of the Finke and Mav combo so far this season. It's better than I expected.
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