I wondered at the game whether or not the crowd would go the "booing" route. Was able to get that question resolved pretty danged quickly.
I'm still not 100% one way or the other on it... but Tilmon didn't help his case at all with the "Missouri by 30" comment. I think I'm more on the corner of "all's fair in love and war" on this score. I cheered extra-loud whenever Tilmon got stuffed or stripped (this happened multiple times).
At the game, it was clear that Frazier is just full to the brim with confidence right now and is a better scorer than TJL. It was a pretty rough game for TJL - Harris bullied him quite a bit, even after he got T'd up by Teddy. I think Frazier is going to overtake Lucas in the same way that Lucas overtook Tate last season.
Mark Smith is appearing in post-game summaries as having had a strong game, but I'm not sure I totally agree. His 10-point tally was inflated by two catch-and-shoot 3's. Otherwise, he still looks like a freshman who hasn't had the lightbulb go off yet as to what the college game is like. Very tentative overall. Once he gets there, though, watch out.
I'm torn on whether or not to give the game ball to Frazier or Black. Leron was just an absolute rock for us in this game. He bottled up Tilmon and Porter and was our only reliable weapon on offense. One of his best games as an Illini ever, no question.
Alstork had another game where the box score does not tell the story. His defense was top-notch. When he was in the same corner of the court the ball was, Mizzou tended to freeze up and turn it over more often. In a way I feel bad for Alstork because he isn't putting up the flashy scoring numbers I know he wanted to. But he's doing the little things and, personally, impresses me a great deal. Only gripe against him for this game was him trying to make a layup over a Mizzou double-team and earning a turnover instead of dishing out to a locked-and-loaded Mark Smith for an uncontested three.
The game environment was great. Better than the last few years. Never got as loud as it did during Ray's shot, but it was still definitely fun. We're hearing "sellout crowd" and "best crowd since 200x," but there were a lot of empty seats. And they weren't all season ticket holders either. That really baffles me. Who buys a ticket and then just doesn't go? Are those empty seats casualties of scalpers or something? I don't get it.
Favorite moment: in the hallways right after the game there was a "MIZ-NOZ" chant.
. Although I bet he plays in one more tops before he goes pro. He sure looks a lot better than he did his senior year in HS.