(And Brad Underwood was d**n right. Go! Brad!)
Illinois 81, Washington 77 Postgame
- Status
....and end-of-half plays.
The fact that it was a 6'1 guy making the contest above the rim like that - jeez, DGL has pretty freaky ups. And no quit on defense.
When Humrichous is hitting jump shots & Tre White is this steady, we’ll beat anybody. If you get that AND contributions from DGL, Riley or Davis, that’s the type of team that wins a natty.
Absolutely.. I'm pointing out the value our coaching staff found in Tomi and that I'd much rather allocate money the way that we have compared to spending $2 million on an above average player..
Does your comment provide anything of merit?
Does your comment provide anything of merit?
Exactly ...I guarantee it wasn't drawn up to throw the ball into an empty backcourt
Yep, said that in pregame thread. I won’t be surprised if Maryland isn’t the only team to be swept either.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I purposely tried not to post right after this game (which I viewed in my one-year old's play pen 
), but here are a few of my thoughts a few hours later:
1. Obviously Washington clawed back to make it uncomfortably close, but this was the first time since possibly 2005 that I truly just felt CONFIDENT the entire time that we would win a road conference game ... including BEFORE the game. We fell off of our game there a bit, but it didn't matter; these guys were determined to get a gutsy road win. On that 2005 note...
2. It's worth remembering that not team is going to win easily every game. Let's remember that our 2005 team had some rather uninspiring close calls where the important thing is they WON. Two particularly "WTF" examples I distinctly remember below...
---- Trailed by up to 9 in the second half at Purdue team that would finish the season 7-21. We stormed back to win by 9.
---- Trailed by 4 at halftime to a Michigan team that would finish 13-18. We ended up getting a stressful 6-point win.
3. Sticking to the theme of how far we have come as a program to get me back to that 2005 era confidence, it was not very long ago where even our good teams were Maryland. What I mean is Maryland had an off game, and they just didn't have enough to get past that fact in Washington's gym ... we did. These guys are winners, and they are an OT loss and a buzzer-beater away from being 13-1 and probably in the top 5 right now.
4. Washington, I apologize ... I was NOT familiar with your arena game. Granted I haven't been there, but that has to be one of the more underrated venues in the conference that could be really cool if Washington ever got really good for a sustained period. In fact, I know have to believe that Washington has one of the better football/basketball combos for their home facilities in the Big Ten. Something about an arena that has any window for natural light to come through is so damn cool and classic to me.
5. It was awesome to hear the announcer remark multiple times about the Illini fans in the building! Going full circle to my 2005 comparison earlier, it was astonishing that year how many times we filled opposing arenas and every neutral location with Illini fans. We made road contests at Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan and Iowa feel like TRUE home games that year, and it probably helped our guys win all four. It's good to get back to that!
6. Ending on the note of our great fans, I hope we continue to travel well all year! Unfortunately we don't get Assembly Hall West aka Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take over and a lot of our closer away games are on weeknights (e.g., Wisconsin and Indiana), but I hope Illini fans absolutely swarm Indianapolis for the BTT. We should also be playing our hearts out to get the necessary seeding to play the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee!! Then Indianapolis is one of the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight locations.
), but here are a few of my thoughts a few hours later:1. Obviously Washington clawed back to make it uncomfortably close, but this was the first time since possibly 2005 that I truly just felt CONFIDENT the entire time that we would win a road conference game ... including BEFORE the game. We fell off of our game there a bit, but it didn't matter; these guys were determined to get a gutsy road win. On that 2005 note...
2. It's worth remembering that not team is going to win easily every game. Let's remember that our 2005 team had some rather uninspiring close calls where the important thing is they WON. Two particularly "WTF" examples I distinctly remember below...
---- Trailed by up to 9 in the second half at Purdue team that would finish the season 7-21. We stormed back to win by 9.
---- Trailed by 4 at halftime to a Michigan team that would finish 13-18. We ended up getting a stressful 6-point win.
3. Sticking to the theme of how far we have come as a program to get me back to that 2005 era confidence, it was not very long ago where even our good teams were Maryland. What I mean is Maryland had an off game, and they just didn't have enough to get past that fact in Washington's gym ... we did. These guys are winners, and they are an OT loss and a buzzer-beater away from being 13-1 and probably in the top 5 right now.
4. Washington, I apologize ... I was NOT familiar with your arena game. Granted I haven't been there, but that has to be one of the more underrated venues in the conference that could be really cool if Washington ever got really good for a sustained period. In fact, I know have to believe that Washington has one of the better football/basketball combos for their home facilities in the Big Ten. Something about an arena that has any window for natural light to come through is so damn cool and classic to me.
5. It was awesome to hear the announcer remark multiple times about the Illini fans in the building! Going full circle to my 2005 comparison earlier, it was astonishing that year how many times we filled opposing arenas and every neutral location with Illini fans. We made road contests at Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan and Iowa feel like TRUE home games that year, and it probably helped our guys win all four. It's good to get back to that!
6. Ending on the note of our great fans, I hope we continue to travel well all year! Unfortunately we don't get Assembly Hall West aka Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take over and a lot of our closer away games are on weeknights (e.g., Wisconsin and Indiana), but I hope Illini fans absolutely swarm Indianapolis for the BTT. We should also be playing our hearts out to get the necessary seeding to play the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee!! Then Indianapolis is one of the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight locations.
I guess Dana Altman was right. We weren’t THAT good.
Ugly wins count the same as blowout wins. And sometimes teams get more out of them. Hope that’s the case with this one.
Ugly wins count the same as blowout wins. And sometimes teams get more out of them. Hope that’s the case with this one.
In person, Ben was incredibly effective in this game. Defense and offense, even though his shot wasn’t falling. Definitely have seen growth
Focus and awareness but also holding the ball like you got a pair. It wasn’t this egregious but felt like it at times.
While it is understandable to compare this team with the 2005 team due to the talent level, the B1G was much smaller and weak at that time, at its valley. Pretty much we were the only good team (msu might have been ok). Now this year while B1G is not the best league, it's still very competitive so lots of games will be dicey.I purposely tried not to post right after this game (which I viewed in my one-year old's play pen
1. Obviously Washington clawed back to make it uncomfortably close, but this was the first time since possibly 2005 that I truly just felt CONFIDENT the entire time that we would win a road conference game ... including BEFORE the game. We fell off of our game there a bit, but it didn't matter; these guys were determined to get a gutsy road win. On that 2005 note...
2. It's worth remembering that not team is going to win easily every game. Let's remember that our 2005 team had some rather uninspiring close calls where the important thing is they WON. Two particularly "WTF" examples I distinctly remember below...
---- Trailed by up to 9 in the second half at Purdue team that would finish the season 7-21. We stormed back to win by 9.
---- Trailed by 4 at halftime to a Michigan team that would finish 13-18. We ended up getting a stressful 6-point win.
3. Sticking to the theme of how far we have come as a program to get me back to that 2005 era confidence, it was not very long ago where even our good teams were Maryland. What I mean is Maryland had an off game, and they just didn't have enough to get past that fact in Washington's gym ... we did. These guys are winners, and they are an OT loss and a buzzer-beater away from being 13-1 and probably in the top 5 right now.
4. Washington, I apologize ... I was NOT familiar with your arena game. Granted I haven't been there, but that has to be one of the more underrated venues in the conference that could be really cool if Washington ever got really good for a sustained period. In fact, I know have to believe that Washington has one of the better football/basketball combos for their home facilities in the Big Ten. Something about an arena that has any window for natural light to come through is so damn cool and classic to me.
5. It was awesome to hear the announcer remark multiple times about the Illini fans in the building! Going full circle to my 2005 comparison earlier, it was astonishing that year how many times we filled opposing arenas and every neutral location with Illini fans. We made road contests at Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan and Iowa feel like TRUE home games that year, and it probably helped our guys win all four. It's good to get back to that!
6. Ending on the note of our great fans, I hope we continue to travel well all year! Unfortunately we don't get Assembly Hall West aka Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take over and a lot of our closer away games are on weeknights (e.g., Wisconsin and Indiana), but I hope Illini fans absolutely swarm Indianapolis for the BTT. We should also be playing our hearts out to get the necessary seeding to play the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee!! Then Indianapolis is one of the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight locations.
What was his point? Proving his defense was garbage?
Not exactly considering Kempo, which will affect seeding. I vote for blowout wins everyone down the road.
I’d have predicted a 4 point win at Oregon and a 30 point win at Washington, but this way is even better. Bringing home 2 road wins is massive, no matter how you get them.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
I mean, I wouldn't say it was THAT weak. We were a year or two removed from Indiana having been in the NC game, Wiscy was decent under Bo Ryan and made the Elite Eight that year, MSU also was very good and made the Final Four. tOSU was decent also and if you recall was the one team to beat us before the NC game. The following year they made it to the Final with Oden, Conley, etc.
Last edited:
Actually, pretty much yes. Though some on the board don’t understand nuisance and considered it an insult to Illini.
- Status