Illinois 73, Penn State 65 Postgame

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#226      
I-L-L
Juju said:
Ugly wins happen every year. Much rather it be an ugly win than an ugly loss.
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Especially on the road! Road win in the Big Ten is a good win.
Love Tomi, but it's time for toughness. Get tough or lose time. A guy like Morez comes in handy here. I hope Tomi can get back to last year's status. I believe he can. Also, on a side note, who gets tired of how our team taps/tips rebounds around with one hand? We're a good rebounding team, but we're really tall too. Boz, Wagler, and Big Z go in hard with 2 hands, the others tip it and I hate that. Go up with two hands and be tough!!!! Same goes with loose balls! Two hands tough! If we do that we'll be a Sweet 16 or better team!
 
#228      
I-L-L
BalloonsTheElephant said:
Losing Wagler for the vast majority of the second half obviously impacted our team as a whole. Rebounding can still be an issue, but we got an early look at what life without Wagler looks like.

We still win by 8 on the road in the B1G with a pretty mediocre performance. They never really threatened and we were able to keep them at bay.
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Good post. Good win on the road. No reason Wagler should've been in the game with 2 fouls late in the first half. We snuck him back in and he helped expand the lead in the first half and we played with fire and kept him in over 6 minutes and he picked up his 3rd foul. We should've sit him late in the first with 2 fouls when we expanded the lead. Then we started him with 3 fouls in the second half. Don't like it. Like this team and like Underwood, just saying that was a missed coaching moment. Not just from the head coach. Assistants should've been pointing that out as well. Maybe they were. Don't know.
In addition, would like to see our offense set up good positions for Andrej to make plays when Wagler is out. Have to be prepared for that. Go Illini!
 
#230      
Iloveorangekoolaid
I get why people are going with the “a win is a win” theory. But I want so badly to have more success in March. And you have the ability to enhance your resume and metrics all season long. Well winning at Penn St. by 8 does not move the needle. I really thought we were turning a corner mentally but we just can’t seem to stay laser focused game in and game out. It’s my biggest concern right now. We thought Purdue would be our top opponent to compete for the Chicago regional but Michigan is currently playing like a juggernaut. They are beating much better teams by 30. This team should beat this years PSU team by 15-20 even if Wagler misses the entire game. Maybe my expectations are too high but this wasn’t just a game of missing shots. I think we’ve all seen what the ceiling can be with this team and so there’s frustration when we lack a killer instinct. I will always take a win but I can’t always be satisfied with how we win just because it’s a win.
 
#234      
skyIdub
RollChief said:
Fully disagree I haven’t seen many full context basketball related takes that are logical and pragmatic, I feel like most these comments are thinly veiled at best.

The thing that is great about this year’s roster is that Tomi doesn’t have to be a work horse against a team like penn state in the middle of a bad performance like last year, if he’s having a bad game we have Z and Mirk to make up for deficiencies. Idk if we’ve forgotten but last year if Tomi was having a bad game, we were toast because MJJ couldn’t make up for it.

I think a lot of Tomi’s “poor performances” this year are results of he was injured early, probably still coming up to speed with conditioning and we have the luxury of pulling him if it’s a bad matchup for him or if he’s having a bad game.

Idk maybe I’m wrong maybe the more logical explanation is that one of the hardest working guys from last year has decided to get complacent and lazy this year once he’s made some NIL money, nevermind the potential NBA money, screw it easy street now it’s time to recline the chair and coast from here.
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It was a generalized comment, not specifically about this game.
 
#235      
Oldskoolkoach
He changed that one time when we gave up 25 straight to UCONN, oh wait...no he didnt. Didnt even change his posture to call a timeout.
 
#236      
ILLFAN67
Wow, I can’t believe all the doom and gloom on this board tonight. Did we lose?? A lot folks act like they have never watched a basketball season before. Tough to win on the road no matter who you play. We just beat Mizzou by 40 and they beat Florida tonight. Teams have ups and downs especially ones that have a lot of new players and freshman playing. This is not the 2005 Illini who had been playing together for 3-4 yrs.
 
#237      
Oracle21
From the cheap seats said:
That awful Mizzou team (and the Illini did make them look terrible) just beat the defending champs. 😂 Now I know that makes Florida a horrific team, too. Hard to win on the road in a P4 conference. Even against a bad team. We did tonight. The defending champs couldn’t.
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Florida is now 9-5 and likely out of the top 25. Most of their roster is gone from last season too.
 
#240      
jamie13197
I need to see my eye doctor after looking at my Illini Florencent Orange Uniforms. Ouch.
 
#241      
Fly Illini Fly!
BalloonsTheElephant said:
Losing Wagler for the vast majority of the second half obviously impacted our team as a whole. Rebounding can still be an issue, but we got an early look at what life without Wagler looks like.

We still win by 8 on the road in the B1G with a pretty mediocre performance. They never really threatened and we were able to keep them at bay.
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For whatever reason, people just can’t come to terms that every game won’t be your A game. It’s legitimately impossible. Fouls happen, shots don’t fall, etc.

When that happens you need to win ugly (which is a skill). Like you said they never threatened, and closest they got was 8. If that’s the genuinely worst thing you have to be crushed about — probably means you’re doing all right.
 
#242      
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?
Fly Illini Fly! said:
For whatever reason, people just can’t come to terms that every game won’t be your A game. It’s legitimately impossible. Fouls happen, shots don’t fall, etc.

When that happens you need to win ugly (which is a skill). Like you said they never threatened, and closest they got was 8. If that’s the genuinely worst thing you have to be crushed about — probably means you’re doing all right.
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Gonzaga went to OT with Seattle after losing the entire second half. Duke beat FSU by 4 today. Michigan State beat this EXACT Penn State team by 4.

I’m sure all their season’s are doomed….
 
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#243      
EmeraldCityIllini
IllinoisIntegrity said:
Tallest team in the NCAA, the biggest in Illinois history. I scratch my head why the bigs aren’t being fed more, especially when the 3’s aren’t falling or starting front court gets in foul trouble. Consistent lack of adjustment and utilization of prime talent is concerning.
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I saw these primary adjustments tonight…

1) movement to a matchup zone to protect Keaton, but also funnel shots to Z and force bad shooters to shoot

2) without Keaton, moving to playing through the post in Mirkovic - I thought he was terrific in the second half

3) a concerted effort to turn up the heat at the halfcourt line to force turnovers and get some more easy transition buckets

Legitimately thought the second half adjustments were glaring and all fans could see that?
 
#245      
lstewart53x3
Iloveorangekoolaid said:
I get why people are going with the “a win is a win” theory. But I want so badly to have more success in March. And you have the ability to enhance your resume and metrics all season long. Well winning at Penn St. by 8 does not move the needle. I really thought we were turning a corner mentally but we just can’t seem to stay laser focused game in and game out. It’s my biggest concern right now. We thought Purdue would be our top opponent to compete for the Chicago regional but Michigan is currently playing like a juggernaut. They are beating much better teams by 30. This team should beat this years PSU team by 15-20 even if Wagler misses the entire game. Maybe my expectations are too high but this wasn’t just a game of missing shots. I think we’ve all seen what the ceiling can be with this team and so there’s frustration when we lack a killer instinct. I will always take a win but I can’t always be satisfied with how we win just because it’s a win.
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Remember that year we made the E8?

This team is currently higher in the metrics and already has more T25 wins than that team got all season.

That team also:

+ Beat 131 KP Oakland at home by 11
+ Lost at home to Marquette (that team’s version of the Texas Tech game)
+ Lost at home to 62 KP Maryland
+ Lost on the road to 42 KP Northwestern

College basketball is flukey. We beat Missouri by 43. They just beat Florida. Florida St lost to Dayton by 28. Duke beat them by 4.

This game basically had no impact on our metrics. We went into at #8 in KP and walked out of it at #8 in KP.

Win and advance.
 
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#247      
mysterio2525
lstewart53x3 said:
Remember that year we made the E8?

This team is currently higher in the metrics and already has more T25 wins than that team got all season.

That team also:

+ Beat 131 KP Oakland at home by 11
+ Lost at home to Marquette (that team’s version of the Texas Tech game)
+ Lost at home to 62 KP Maryland
+ Lost on the road to 42 KP Northwestern

College basketball is flukey. We beat Missouri by 43. They just beat Florida. Florida St lost to Dayton by 28. Duke beat them by 4.

This game basically had no impact on our metrics. We went into at #8 in KP and walked out of it at #8 in KP.

Win and advance.
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I was happy to see no impact on the metrics. that was my main concern. still little concerned with andre not passing when doubled, tomi in general, and the big drop off when Keaton left (he's our best player but expect more from our vets).... but im ready to move on. ugly but a road win is always good
 
#248      
skyIdub
EmpoweredIllini said:
Who are the people you were talking about in your generalized comment that always turn basketball related comments into hate and attacks? I want to stay away from them lol
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They're......right behind you! But they can only detect motion. Don't move!

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#249      
NarrowJ
EmeraldCityIllini said:
Legitimately thought the second half adjustments were glaring and all fans could see that?
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Agree and thought similar with Tomi. Was so clear from first few possessions that PSU was just going to blitz double and make him give up the ball on offense. Should he have had more rebounds? Sure. But what I watched wasn’t a lazy kid, he was being keyed on by the opponent and we adjusted and played a different kind of game with KB & Stoj hunting ISOs and Mirkovic as the primary hub/screener, and having Z play more minutes (also due to fouls though).

Each game is its own story with new heroes, scapegoats and narratives to be had. Maybe Boswell will score 2 first half points on 1-5 shooting and 3 turnovers and we can interchange the Tomi discourse with KB commentary vs Rutgers.
 
#250      
lstewart53x3
mysterio2525 said:
I was happy to see no impact on the metrics. that was my main concern. still little concerned with andre not passing when doubled, tomi in general, and the big drop off when Keaton left (he's our best player but expect more from our vets).... but im ready to move on. ugly but a road win is always good
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Yeah, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a good game and T’s underperformances are starting to get a bit concerning.

But I’m not going to assign too much postseason value to a B1G road game in a small arena in a game that had 40+ fouls called where your best player gets his 4th foul called a few minutes into the second half the day after new years when the team is still in the top 10 in all the metrics.

(Not saying you are, just replying to the overall tone of the board).
 
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