Yeah, they are predicted to finish in the middle of the Horizon League so it will be interesting to see how well they fare as the season progresses. Hopefully, they were underrated and finish near the top of the Horizon. I assume that will help Illini's strength of schedule.
Illinois 64, Oakland 53 Postgame
Well, he does have a bit of an old man game. I can see why Brad wanted to land him on his first two committments.
Yeah, that was definitely not the 250th team in the country. They've moved up to 223 after going 0-2 against good teams, and I expect that will keep rising to at least an average team.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
No. 25 Illinois escapes in home win over Oakland
Quincy Guerrier's double-double led Illinois to a 64-53 win over Oakland with.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Didn’t see where to link up to but I love the post game analyses our fan base (and former players) put out there either on X or in some of the podcasts. I appreciate the effort some posters put in to explain the game afterwards. I feel like I should understand defensive schemes better in particular for how much I love watching this sport, and this is helping me ‘catch up’ for a sport I came to love later on in life.
Tacomallini
- Washington State
Did Rocket Watts get injured in the game?
Also, just win baby.
Also, just win baby.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
nope . his coach said in the post game presser that he missed numerous schemes and his head wasn't in the game so he benched him...............
Loyalillini10
- Urbana, IL
Oakland's coach said he did some things he didn't like in the 1st half so he benched him.
That’s kinda wild but they did have a chance to win late so I guess it might not have been a completely bad call
Loyalillini10
- Urbana, IL
Yep, and yesterday Davidson beat Maryland, Nicholls beat LSU and Memphis beat Mizzou (not the same but I just like to mention when Mizzou loses).
They could rise higher, but I'm guessing they'll finish in mid to lower tier 3 rather than tier 4. Reason I say that is that they foul an absolute ton and seem to not have a whole lot of depth. A team that is aggressive offensively and can make free throws is going to give them issues. Oakland is likely better than quad 4, but realistically, I'm just not sure how much. And it'd be difficult for me to see them work tier way up to quad 2 despite the good start against B10 teams
Crazy… I think that 12 footer might be his record for farthest shot made. I agree with you that he should work on the 12-15 ft shots before he worries about 3-pt shots.
We were up 16 with under a minute left (then they scored 5 as we were essentially dribbling out the clock), and that’s after a horrific first few minutes of the game.
All that to say, we had an ugly game overall and won easily. That’s a good thing. What matters is, will we have 3-5 “ugly” games this year, or 15? Time will tell… and we’ll just have to overreact in the meantime.
All that to say, we had an ugly game overall and won easily. That’s a good thing. What matters is, will we have 3-5 “ugly” games this year, or 15? Time will tell… and we’ll just have to overreact in the meantime.
Well, that said Ty does play smart and doesn't take many if any poor shots outside his skill set. I think that is a shot he works on and feels confident taking.
Yeah. The coach was really honest about it in the postgame. Basically said Rocket was killing them out there. Not running called plays, bad effort, bad turnovers. Said they had no chance of winning with him on the floor and quoted Bob Knight in saying the best way for him to learn is sitting on the bench and he'll be back out there next game playing much better
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Kampe also said in his postgame presser that he blamed himself for not subbing better in the 2nd half as his players looked tired. He was very complimentary of TSJ's defense on Jack Gohle.
MustangWally
- Mayfield
We didn’t shoot well, but 16 three point attempts is acceptable. Last season we’d have taken twice as many.
Watts is not the player he was as a freshman. His development seems to have gone in reverse.
sacraig
- The desert
Wouldnt it make more sense to compare the first two games of last year to the first 2 of this year if youre evaluating a "start"? So not sure why you are comparing a 5 game sample to a 2 game sample this year. Yes we won both games by 30 last year, but oakland is WAY better than our second game opponent last year who was like 320 in kenpom.
Yeah, I was going to mention that he was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team when he was at MSU back in 2021(?) so I wonder what happened?
Playing better or shooting better. They are playing hard, working together, and defending quite well. But the shooting is horrific and two of the best spot up shooters are timid and take forever to get a shot off. They all need to become the Tasmanian Devil (or Sincere Harris) and put the ball in the basket....it is still that simple and they all can do it....but they haven't done it to date.