Listened to post-game talk with the media
Juwan Howard seems like a pretty down-to-earth likable guy.
Agreed. Seems like a cool dude. He’s going to land a lot of good recruits in Ann Arbor, I’m afraid.
Listened to post-game talk with the media
Juwan Howard seems like a pretty down-to-earth likable guy.
We flow so much better when Dre comes off the bench. Too many cooks when he, Ayo and Trent are out there for extended time.A case could be made that based on last year's 28 games and this year's 2 that Feliz came off the bench, he could be considered Illinois' best 6th man of all time.
I don't know why it took so long to figure this out. Feliz was so good coming off the bench last year.We flow so much better when Dre comes off the bench. Too many cooks when he, Ayo and Trent are out there for extended time.
Good win for sure. No doubt. Ayo has to play better moving forward though......
14 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists ain't too shabby. He needs to cut back on turnovers but this seems to me to be a pretty typical game for him. I don't really know what people's expectations are for him.
Agree completely on the moving screens observation. TV took some verbal abuse over thoseThe refs were letting them play which was nice. Bigs were able to play basketball underneath. UM was able to get away with a ton of moving screens by Teske last night - which is a bit annoying as it was 75% of their offense and supposed to be a point of emphasis over the last few years - lots of spread legs, moving screens, etc.
It's interesting to see what we can do when we D up and UM doesn't shoot 95% from 3.
Kudos to Kipper for the help D and aggression - seems like the the combo of Kofi/Giorgi has helped take some pressure off of him and he's enjoying the role.
Oh, and for crying out loud can we get a better press break scheme? Run to the corner and throw the ball to the guy who just ran to the corner is fraught with problems as we've seen for multiple games now.
The refs were letting them play which was nice. Bigs were able to play basketball underneath. UM was able to get away with a ton of moving screens by Teske last night - which is a bit annoying as it was 75% of their offense and supposed to be a point of emphasis over the last few years - lots of spread legs, moving screens, etc.
It's interesting to see what we can do when we D up and UM doesn't shoot 95% from 3.
Kudos to Kipper for the help D and aggression - seems like the the combo of Kofi/Giorgi has helped take some pressure off of him and he's enjoying the role.
Oh, and for crying out loud can we get a better press break scheme? Run to the corner and throw the ball to the guy who just ran to the corner is fraught with problems as we've seen for multiple games now.
Kofi looks like an upper classman and Teske an under classman. Kofi is really special.This picture.
Kofi: "I am the Lion. The King!"
Teske: "Eeeeeeeeeek!"
This is gonna sound weird, but I don't even think we played exceptionally well? Like we played a really solid game and Kofi continues to surpass even our wildest expectations, but that was just a pretty thorough handling of the #5 team in the country without anything really crazy going our way offensively, right?
We flow so much better when Dre comes off the bench. Too many cooks when he, Ayo and Trent are out there for extended time.
I truly believe getting Georgi more involved in the post helped as well.. he sure seems more comfortable in the paint with the ball in his hands then standing 20 feet away.
Good solid win for the Illini.. need to blow out Old Dominion and take Mizzou out silently.
If he averaged this for the season he'd be 1st or 2nd team All B1G. Ayo came out and absolutely set the tone last night right from the beginning.
I'm proud that the kids stayed off my lawn. Not like the ridiculous kids back in the day that played on my lawn.
but we need to get the ball in the post in late game situations
This picture.
Kofi: "I am the Lion. The King!"
Teske: "Eeeeeeeeeek!"
As someone else mentioned, I'd like fewer turnovers and would love to see him create more offense. No reason he shouldn't be in the 6-8 assists range every game. But don't want to detract from a really solid performance from him....getting his mojo back, for sure!14 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists ain't too shabby. He needs to cut back on turnovers but this seems to me to be a pretty typical game for him. I don't really know what people's expectations are for him.
And if a couple of ours had gone in........blowout. Don't let that point get lost.Agree with this. The refs let everyone play for the most part, and I'd argue that we even got some home cookin' calls. The result was a very fast-paced game which favored our style, Ayo and Feliz especially. Michigan was hot early, but we stuck with them punch for punch. We got lucky with all of their missed 3s; I think if just a couple of these went in, it could've been a very different game and result. Kipper, Damonte, Griffin all contributed more than they detracted. Lastly, I'm starting to see Giorgi and Kofi starting to gel, and the offensive boards are reflecting it. It seems like Trent is starting to find opportunities to score in a variety of ways. Could it be that the team is maturing and learning to play better together?
This is the most encouraging thing from the past two games. After a game like this you can sometimes look back and see that a certain player played out of their mind (think B. Paul against OSU), or the whole team was hot from three, etc. These games have not been like that. They were normal performances, and the Illini were right there with two solid teams. Honestly, they were the better team in each of those games.
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Tonight was a great sign toward a positive answer for this team.