The PSU game plan was to guard Trent, Plummer, and then double Kofi using either Grandison's, or DMW's defender. They were challenging DMW to shoot open 3s. Coleman was 0-4 from 3. At least 3 of them were good shots. They left him wide open at the top of the key. If he makes a couple of those, the defense has to step out and Kofi and the driving lanes open up.
Illinois 60, Penn State 55 Postgame
A win is a win is a win is a win.
I will admit though... We looked flat in the second half (Hulu didn't record the first for whatever reason). Trent made some huge defensive plays thankfully - Coleman's offensive rebound off the missed free throw was big time.
Credit to PSU for doing what they do.
I will admit though... We looked flat in the second half (Hulu didn't record the first for whatever reason). Trent made some huge defensive plays thankfully - Coleman's offensive rebound off the missed free throw was big time.
Credit to PSU for doing what they do.
*5 of last 6, and we rose 2 spots in Kenpom in that stretch. I guess what I’m saying is it’s all perception, and basketball is a lot more luck than any of us care to admit. If Indiana hits 1 more shot and we lose by 1 at home during that stretch in 2019-20, are we still feeling as good going into the BTT? We also beat a similarly ranked Iowa team by 2 at home. Are we all going to be upset if we don’t win by 10+ on Sunday? I bet some people on here will. Agreed we need to bring it every single night (namely, energy), but basketball is unfair, and tonight felt like one of those where everything went oddly wrong, and we still won the game.
Did you see the first half? PSU made almost everything they threw up there.
Big difference. Nebraska hit their shots. I think 13 3s in their game.
PSU had a brilliant game plan. It almost worked.
First, our squad needs to rebound better, especially defensive rebounding. Shooting comes and goes (not so good tonight, for example). But limiting the other team's chances would really improve our team's chances to win games by more than the thin margin we saw tonight. Second, there are too many small possessions where our smaller defenders (guards) are getting backed down in the paint for good shots by opponents. That has just got to stop.
I think we're being overly critical about the defense we played in this one. We held them to 0.96pts per possession which is below their B10 season average, and while they did miss a couple open shots late in the 2nd half, they made a bunch of highly contested shots in the first 30 minutes of the game. Quite frankly outside of the final 6 minutes of the 1st half and a 2 minute stretch in the 2nd half, I thought we played with a very high level of defensive intensity. Frankly it's hard to believe they scored above 50pts given the quality of shots they had and the pace the game was played with.
On defense there are 3 major issues we've seen this season:
1. Plummer going under screens allowing for wide open shots and lanes- Today he fought hard over them
2. Stretches of lackluster low effort defense- We did have a couple of those today but we did limit them
3. Disinterested unaggressive defensive rebounding- This was not an issue early in the season but has been a major issue the past couple months, and it was a big issue again today. At this point I'd almost be willing to call up Bruce Weber just to ask him where the old mattresses and shoulder pads are and ask him to run the team through his old rebounding drills for a day. This area we need to get under control as we have been very soft recently.
All in all though I thought our defense was overall quite good today. And Trent was out of this world on that end.
On defense there are 3 major issues we've seen this season:
1. Plummer going under screens allowing for wide open shots and lanes- Today he fought hard over them
2. Stretches of lackluster low effort defense- We did have a couple of those today but we did limit them
3. Disinterested unaggressive defensive rebounding- This was not an issue early in the season but has been a major issue the past couple months, and it was a big issue again today. At this point I'd almost be willing to call up Bruce Weber just to ask him where the old mattresses and shoulder pads are and ask him to run the team through his old rebounding drills for a day. This area we need to get under control as we have been very soft recently.
All in all though I thought our defense was overall quite good today. And Trent was out of this world on that end.
It's not that we didn't blow Penn St out, give them credit they did have a good game plan. But we played right into it by not making any adjustments, playing uninspired/lethargically, and running out some odd lineups while sitting Hawkins in the second half until he had to come in for Grandison. Strange at this time of the year. That's where my concern comes from.
Agreed on all points. I get that they weren't in the bonus, but you gotta do something to extend the game. They just sat inside the arc for 20 seconds. It was weird.
I'm really surprised at how little our bench played in the second half.
14 pts 3 rebounds 2 assists 2 steals on 40% from behind the arc. Just another day at the office for Damonte. /s
One of yours Pruman?/s
I mean, given the way we've been dropping in Kenpom (tonight's win dropped us from 17 to 18), I'd take a team that was rising a minimal amount.
Expectations were that this would be a top 10 team. Some even expected us to be better than last year (which I personally thought was unlikely, but I was in the minority on this board). All that aside, the goal, as mentioned by BU just the other day, is Final Four. That's 4 wins in a row against much better competition than Penn St. In the last month this team has struggled to string together two good performances, let alone 4. That's the genesis of my concern.
I don’t know what your going to do about it. You can’t make them grow 3 to 4 inches. We have small guards.
I certainly think that's a major part of it. We've been incredibly unlucky. But at a certain point you either overcome that, or you don't, and we're kind of running out of time. I really hope this team doesn't become a "what could have been" story. I feel like we have enough of those as a fan base!
Calm down man. We're 14-5 in one of the toughest conferences in the country. A lot of good teams in this conference have struggled with PSU and some have lost to the them.
As far as expectations, screw them. The reality is we have a chance at a shared title in this conference, a top 2 seed in the BTT and top 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. That's the reality of our situation right now and that's a pretty good reality.
Need I remind everyone that Penn State has 7 big ten wins with victories over Iowa, Rutgers, Indiana(twice), and Michigan State. They had a 1 point loss to Michigan and 2 pt loss to Wisconsin. Penn State is a very good basketball team. Let’s celebrate our 14th BIG victory of the year!my comment was on the last 6 minutes of the game when they missed 10 of 11 shots attempted
It's games like this, and there have been a lot of them this year, that I am so grateful for the ole DVR. Did we have a coach tonight? I wish when things aren't going our way, BU would make an in game adjustment or 3. We seem more engaged when we play faster. More fresh body rotation please. Lots of lumbering up and down the court tonight, I heard Goode can shoot. Feel free to begin. Do we grease our hands before games? Free throws A+ and thanks Hawk!
Exactly.
Warts and all, this is a pretty damn good season -especially when you factor in the injuries, suspension and staff turnover-.
We have a couple of culture changing seniors playing their last home game in three days, potentially for a league championship.
That's what I'm worried about, not this one.
Enjoy it for what it is.
A lot of people have had expectations but I can’t think of hardly any teams over all the years I have watched basketball that have had to put up with the amount of missed game time by key personnel of this Illinois team. You have to factor that into the equation. Tonight we were missing 2 role players that may or may not have had an impact on the game. We may lose Grandison for a few games now? This team hasn’t jelled because it never gets to play together. And with all that we are still 21-8 and will finish in 2nd or tied for 1st in the Big Ten. I think we are doing ok!
I didn't want to get on this topic again but the problem is some people get caught up in you have be hot going into the tournament when there is no data that backs this up. I do know we were hotter than anyone in the country last year going into the tournament and unfortunately we know what happened. We got a bad matchup early in the tournament. The tournament is about matchups and a little bit of luck. There is no formula to how you play late in the season to how you will play in the NCAA tournament. I will trade this so called 'struggling' that people think we are doing right now for a second weekend and beyond run in the NCAA tournament.
