Illinois 79, Northern Kentucky 64 POSTGAME
The bright side remember when everyone last year was complaining about halftime adjustments. Well this year is the complete opposite because seems like a second half team and a coasting team first half.
hooraybeer
- Pittsburgh, PA
assumed Thorne would still be a double double machine. if not, this season will be a bit of a struggle imo
Ryllini
- Lombard
You mean to tell me, I'm going to be watching a .500 team after our 2-0 start? I refuse to believe that.
I haven't been able to watch this team for 40 yet, but I do believe we are a good NCAA tourney team. This team is really going to miss Nunn, but I think the depth and health can overcome his absence. I like the physical make up and the interchangeable parts we have and that leads me to believe we are built for a Big Ten season grind. We are dealing with suspensions and guys getting back from injuries, so anyone who thought the first few would be hunky dory, doesn't follow along very well and don't know how things work.
t7nich
- Central IL
Yes. My wife asked me multiple times if they let a wild animal in the building.
BillyBob1
- Champaign
At least she was young. How about the mother of the MSU player that made obnoxious noises also?
So, Leron was a top recruit who showed he could take over a game against a top top quality front court as a freshman. Not something bigs usually do
Finke played 30 minutes tonight
Finke had a double double tonight and many people think Leron will be the starter by conference time
This team needs rebounding
Also interior defense
Also another player with an attitude
And he is expected to make progress like he did on the foreign trip
And he already had a sweet mid range game
MALCOLM RULES!
And our Jaylon Tate whupped there'un
Finke played 30 minutes tonight
Finke had a double double tonight and many people think Leron will be the starter by conference time
This team needs rebounding
Also interior defense
Also another player with an attitude
And he is expected to make progress like he did on the foreign trip
And he already had a sweet mid range game
MALCOLM RULES!
And our Jaylon Tate whupped there'un
Last edited by a moderator:
blackdog
- Champaign
Seriously though Finke is maybe going to be our most consistent player this year besides Malcolm. Plays hard, moves well, can score in a number of areas, attacks the offensive glass.
Big problem I have noticed though is he has made some really awful passes this season. Not awful as in bad reads or bad ideas but the execution of the pass was terrible. He tried a post entry feed to Mav this game that was just a line drive when the defender was fronting. Easily picked off. Surprising since he is capable of being a really good passer.
Big problem I have noticed though is he has made some really awful passes this season. Not awful as in bad reads or bad ideas but the execution of the pass was terrible. He tried a post entry feed to Mav this game that was just a line drive when the defender was fronting. Easily picked off. Surprising since he is capable of being a really good passer.
One other positive to his game is his ability to bring the ball up against the press. He had to do it again once last night when Tate was having problems. Not every team has a 6"10" guy that can do that and it actually is pretty easy for him since the guy guarding him usually can't do it full court.
+1, we're still missing a few key parts before we're even close to being full strength. We're not getting much at all from the 2 with JCL recovering and Abrams still shaking off the rust. This would have been a great opportunity for Jordan to show us what he's got but it's still not there. That's forcing us to play 2 point guards and only one has been a scoring threat. Our offense will be better than it is now once JCL is back 100%. Who know's what we'll get from Abrams but I'll be much more confidence in our offense when we only have to play one of the two point guards. Groce has shown that he's not going to just throw an unprepared freshman into the rotation so who knows when we'll see Lucas get meaningful minutes. Remember, Hill and Nunn didn't even get good minutes until much later in their freshman season.
Even if Black is still a foul machine, he'll provide energy and that's been my biggest issue with this team so far. Our team is soft right now but that's something that we'll never be able to say about Black. Maybe he won't start over Finke but he'll at least provide 15-20 minutes and that should help Finke play harder and stay fresh. Plus, Mav is our best 5 at the moment (due to Thorne's health and also improvement on his end), and I'm pretty sure people were all saying that Black complemented Mav the best which makes his return even more key. Lastly, despite the monster game that Hill just had, we still haven't seen the best of him yet IMO.
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
This made me laugh, but in reality the logic is sound as well.
Malcolm Hill reminds me so much of Quentin Richardson (DePaul). Similar size and similar game. From what I recall, Q is more explosive and posted down low more. Q had a mid range game but not like Malcolm's IMHO.
Let's hope Hill has a 13 year NBA career.
Deleted member 3875
D
Guest
Wonder if they are still limiting Lucas for a possible redshirt? Don't know what the magic timeline/minute limit is to be elgible.
Dan
Admin
Words & pictures detailing #Illini 79, @NKUNorseMBB 64
http://illinireport.info/2016/11/the-carson-williams-show-preempted-by-malcolm-in-the-middle/
http://illinireport.info/2016/11/the-carson-williams-show-preempted-by-malcolm-in-the-middle/
Deleted member 3875
D
Guest
Never wished for a ruptured vocal cord on anyone until last night.
He played in a non-exhibition game though so he can't redshirt unless he gets hurt.
illinitrav
- NW Suburbs
The Krush is very disappointing this year. This is not a knock on the current members who are attending the games.. those that show up are great. But the lack of interest from the student body in general is tough to see. I hope things pick up by the NC State game.
In general, there's a lot of optimism on this board which is good but there are some alarming patterns emerging.
Washington (Div III) opened to a 24-17 lead before the Illini went up 40-30 at the half.
Southeast Missouri opened to a 25-18 lead before the Illini went up 37-31 at the half.
NKU opened to a 32-24 lead and still led the Illini at the half 33-31.
Congratulations, the Illini kicked the tar out of Lewis (Div II) but this is a team that has had 4 straight home games (at SFC) against significantly inferior competition where they did not come out ready to play against 3 of them.
The Illini were beaten badly on the boards by a much smaller NKU team 43-32 and also lost on the boards (38-36) to Div III Washington. The man-to-man defense has been horrid.
So far this team hasn't done much to probably make Kenpom rethink the 16-14 call...
Seriously hope that this gets better soon.
Go Illini!
blackdog
- Champaign
This is something I considered posting about yesterday. The energy level was completely dead yesterday. No noise, no enthusiasm from anyone. Just a trend that I've noticed but it seems like less and less people seem to care about the traditions (different chants, standing until the other team scores, when the flag goes around the arena in the second half, etc.) Noticed a lot of the same thing at football games too. Fan base appears to be dying.
There is no such thing as limiting a player for a possible redshirt. Lucas burned is redshirt as soon as he stepped on the court Friday night barring an injury in the first 30% of the season. He cannot redshirt at this point.
That's not really how kenpom's system works. It is purely statistically based. There is no "call" and it is extremely fluid in the early season.