Illinois 77, Tennessee-Martin 74 POSTGAME

#26      

Captain Bubbles

Captain Bubbles
Fairfield, IL
Captain Bubbles
A win is a win.

AJ has been a better player than Alstork at this point. Happy to see AJ have success. Here's hoping Alstork can rebound with a big game against DePaul. Like to see Kipper have a better game against DePaul as well.

Lots to improve, but to be 2-0 is better than 1-1. Need to learn how to finish and close it up. Give UTM credit, Bogan and Butler are good players.
 
#27      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
Exciting game....

We won the first half, lost the second half, but won the game....

TJL with 2 big FTS late
LB with great game overall.....career high 23 pts
Plenty to work on in the coming week
treadmills will be busy

2-0 baby !!!!!!!
 
#28      

illiniknight

I
illiniknight
Not a pretty finish, but a win is a win. This young team obviously has a lot of room for growth. There will be some serious growing pains. At least they were able to pull out the win. The good news is they are 2-0 but the coaches will still be able to get their attention because of the lackluster finish. They will be a better team when they take the court next Friday.
 
#30      

ILL in IA

ILL in IA
Iowa City
ILL in IA
I feel like all the "teachable moments" under Grove came in loses. I'll take the win and things to work on.
 
#32      

Illininer

I
Illininer
pruman91 said:
Exciting game....

We won the first half, lost the second half, but won the game....

TJL with 2 big FTS late
LB with great game overall.....career high 23 pts
Plenty to work on in the coming week
treadmills will be busy

2-0 baby !!!!!!!
Click to expand...

He made 1 of 2
 
#35      

Whitman2020

W
Whitman2020
pruman91 said:
Exciting game....

We won the first half, lost the second half, but won the game....

TJL with 2 big FTS late
LB with great game overall.....career high 23 pts
Plenty to work on in the coming week
treadmills will be busy

2-0 baby !!!!!!!
Click to expand...

TJL only made 1 FT. Unless you mean he had two big TOs late, which he did.
 
#37      

Deleted member 631370

D
Guest
Deleted member 631370
Friday night showed a glimpse of how exciting this team can eventually become.

Tonight showed a glimpse of how ugly portions of this season might be.


Important not to get too high or too low based on these early season wins, but some things that really worry me:

Interior defense. We give up a ton of easy layups.

Outside shooting. Two games a trend does not make necessarily, but we have to shoot better.

Consistency. To be expected from a young team with a new coach. But inconsistency is going to plague us.

Tejon Lucas's offensive fouls. Kid needs to learn to play within himself.


Also, why didn't Trent Frazier see more time in the second half? I thought he closed the first half very well.
 
#39      

TheLegendaryOne24

T
TheLegendaryOne24
Verified Insider said:
Friday night showed a glimpse of how exciting this team can eventually become.

Tonight showed a glimpse of how ugly portions of this season might be.


Important not to get too high or too low based on these early season wins, but some things that really worry me:

Interior defense. We give up a ton of easy layups.

Outside shooting. Two games a trend does not make necessarily, but we have to shoot better.

Consistency. To be expected from a young team with a new coach. But inconsistency is going to plague us.

Tejon Lucas's offensive fouls. Kid needs to learn to play within himself.


Also, why didn't Trent Frazier see more time in the second half? I thought he closed the first half very well.
Click to expand...

Just my opinion but I thought Smith/Frazier/Williams held their own tonight u til Smith picked up his 2nd foul in the 1st half....
 
#40      

Halloweenie

H
Halloweenie
Rad said:
Did you watch Nick play when he first came to UI?
Click to expand...

Nick's first year 15.9 pts, 6.6 rebounds..he did have to sit out his freshman year, iirc. Yes..I did see him play. I think Damonte is potentially a good player. He will unlikely be nearly as good as Nick.
 
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#41      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
They are not comfortable with their passing yet. You can see them pause and hold the ball to long and then they are not decisive with their pass. Once they get in a rhythm and the passes come quicker and crisper, this offense is going to be awesome. We've only seen glimpses.
 
#42      

frozenrope9190

frozenrope9190
Aurora, IL
frozenrope9190
This is actually the best kind of outcome our young Illini could have, thinking larger picture.

Played great in stretches, but faded at times, giving Underwood lots of improvement opportunities. And, we won the game.

Going to be interesting to see who the go-to guy will be during these bad stretches, with no Malcolm Hill. I think it will eventually be Mark Smith, but not yet.
 
#43      

TheLegendaryOne24

T
TheLegendaryOne24
skyIdub said:
They are not comfortable with their passing yet. You can see them pause and hold the ball to long and then they are not decisive with their pass. Once they get in a rhythm and the passes come quicker and crisper, this offense is going to be awesome. We've only seen glimpses.
Click to expand...

I dont know what game everyone else is watching but there are a ton of times when Smith is "WIDE OPEN" and Alstork and TJL wont pass him the ball..that sorta mentality will and did come back to haunt this team..... not room for small punitive things like that the TO TJL has Smith was wide open on the left wing.......just me observation
 
#44      

Rad

R
Nashville, TN
Rad
Halloweenie said:
Nick's first year 15.9 pts, 6.6 rebounds..he did have to sit out his freshman year, iirc. Yes..I did see him play. I think Damonte is potentially a good player. He will unlikely be nearly as good as Nick.
Click to expand...

Probably right. Yes he did not play his freshman year and he is probably my second favorite player all time only to Kenny Battle. I was lucky enough to be first row for most of those games. I do see a lot of similarities in DMW and Nick's game and athleticism. He will be VERY good imo. The play in the second half when he came from the wing and almost got rebound over a couple other players reminded me of the way Nick commanded so much space in the air when rebounding. Can't wait to see how good he becomes!
 
#45      

TheLegendaryOne24

T
TheLegendaryOne24
frozenrope9190 said:
This is actually the best kind of outcome our young Illini could have, thinking larger picture.

Played great in stretches, but faded at times, giving Underwood lots of improvement opportunities. And, we won the game.

Going to be interesting to see who the go-to guy will be during these bad stretches, with no Malcolm Hill. I think it will eventually be Mark Smith, but not yet.
Click to expand...

If that is going to be the case BU and the coaches better show (Lucas and Alstork) on game film where they miss Smith on several occasions when they penetrate...

The jury is still out on Alstork..I though the big run came when the (3) freshman (Smith/Williams/Frazier) were in the game in the first half...
 
#46      

blackdog

blackdog
Champaign
blackdog
Observations from the stands:

Leron and Smith were both really good making shots today and without them we lose this game. Smith especially has some really nice under control drives and finishes. Impressive stuff.

Not a lot of man or ball movement against the zone. Need a lot of work on that. They also really struggled against full court pressure.

Alstork was visibly frustrated by his playing time. A couple of times he was taken out and was shaking his head. He definitely wanted to be in the game.

Refs made some pretty terrible calls

Crowd today was abysmal. Probably the lowest attendance I have seen in my 10 years of going to games.
 
#47      

chief78

chief78
Florida
chief78
skyIdub said:
They are not comfortable with their passing yet. You can see them pause and hold the ball to long and then they are not decisive with their pass.
Click to expand...

They have not looked real comfortable against the zone yet. There is a hesitancy to pass inside and also a hesitancy to step into an open 3 pointer. Playing inside out will get them the looks they want, but they need to have confidence to knock 'em down. This early schedule gives them opportunities to work on this. Defensively they have had great intensity, just need to be consistent and not lose their man (or have better rotations) underneath. Oh well, 2-0, much better than 1-1 at this point.
 
#48      

TCTORNADO

TCTORNADO
TCTORNADO
AJ has now scored more points in 2 games (27) versus 23 points total in 24 games last year.
 
#49      

I Bomb

I Bomb
Stylin' and Profilin'
I Bomb
Glad they barely pulled it out, even though it's frustrating. These games you just have to win. Going to get tired of seeing zone this year, though...