Illinois 82, Washington U 75 POSTGAME (Exhibition)

#51      

Bear8287

B
Bear8287
Some notes:

The Illini were up by 29 points (69-40) with 9:33 left in the second half and then decided to take the rest of the game off being outscored 13-35 over the remaining minutes.

The Illini weren’t able to “win” both halves of many games last season and that continued today, with the Illini “losing” the second half 42-45. *How do you give up 45 points in one half to a Div III team!?*

The Illini were out rebounded 36-38 by Washington.

Thorne fouled out with a little over a minute left and a total of 18 minutes of playing time and 4 rebounds.

Hill led the Illini with 6 rebounds and Jordan was second with 5. Everyone else had 4 or less.

The Illini had 20 turnovers.

The Illini (27-63, 3-17) were outshot on the floor by Washington (29-62, 4-14). The Illini attempted 37 free throws and their 12 point advantage at the line, won the game for the Illini.

All-in-all, the Illini showed flashes of how much better they should be than a Div III team, but if this is any indication of how this team is going to play during this season, it will get ugly fast.

This was an exhibition game, but given that everyone on the Illini bench should be good enough to start for a Div III team (otherwise they have no business being on the bench of a Power 5 Conference Div I team), having a final score this close at home is a debacle. How do the Illini allow themselves to be outscored by 22 points in less than 10 minutes by a Div III team?
 
#52      

blackdog

blackdog
Champaign
blackdog
Just some quick thoughts from watching in person:

Thorne is HUGE and its going to take him awhile to adjust to the new rules. He was playing so physically he got in foul trouble quick. He was dominating the offensive glass but had some trouble finishing plays.

Mav looked good on the offensive end and was definitely more explosive. He had that nice easy 1 handed flush that last year probably would have been a layin. On the other side still a little passive rebounding the ball. At least one play where he stood and watched instead of boxing out while the other team got an easy tip in. Groce looked furious on the sidelines. Still going to be a plus player for us this season.

Lucas looks like he is going to be a legit player. That one play where he kept his dribble alive, took it in the lane, and delivered a sweet pass to Mav for the and 1 was great. Really composed for a freshman. Can't remember their PG's name but he was very pesky and forced a number of turnover but Lucas just calmly dribbled up the court on him a number of times.

Finke, Williams, and Jordan had a number of really sloppy plays. Careless passes and dribbles. One play reminded me of rec basketball where the other team scores and then jumps the inbounds pass for another basket. No excuse for that.

Finke even though he played sloppy had a nice game scoring the ball. He moves well and finds spots to be effective. Had a couple nice passes too including a sweet bounce pass in the lane while driving.

I thought Abrams looked really good out there. He wasn't really aggressive offensively but he was patient and made good plays. There were a couple times I was really surprised he drove into the lane and instead of forcing a shot up he made a skip pass into the corner for an open jumper. Didn't get any assists because the shots were missed but those were great passes and I don't think he makes those plays 2 years ago.

JCL looked aggressive out there and was really hunting his shots which is good but he also forced some looks, which is not good. Needs to find some balance there. His transition and-1 finish was a thing of beauty though. Love to see more of that.

Overall I think Illinois could have easily handled them but like others have said were trying out different lineups and getting guys some extra PT. Hill had a quiet game and probably could have taken over at some point if needed. Didn't even play much of the second.
 
#53      

Cubby Blue

C
Cubby Blue
blackdog said:
I thought Abrams looked really good out there. He wasn't really aggressive offensively but he was patient and made good plays. There were a couple times I was really surprised he drove into the lane and instead of forcing a shot up he made a skip pass into the corner for an open jumper. Didn't get any assists because the shots were missed but those were great passes and I don't think he makes those plays 2 years ago.
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Really, cause I have always said the one reason Tracy doesn't have a ton of assists is because we have always seemed to miss those shots. Tracy skipped passed the ball plenty while BP and DJ were with him, they just didn't make a high percentage of them. Won a game in Hawaii from just such a pass. Tracy will enjoy having JCL and his >40% from three as his wingman.
 
#54      

Newman

N
Newman
I didn't watch the game and I'm not familiar with Wash U, but I heard that they were a good D3 team. I know some D3 teams are better than a lot of lower level D1 teams, but I don't know if Wash U is at the level. It's great to hear that we were up by a ton at one point. I'm okay with a meltdown towards the end if it's going to make the practices more intense.
 
#55      

UrbanaIsTheShiz

U
UrbanaIsTheShiz
sacraig said:
To be fair, good teams fairly regularly lose in exhibitions. I recall Kentucky and Michigan State losing recently, so winning close isn't necessarily a bad sign. Positive spin!
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MSU and Kentucky have done a lot of other things recently that would tend to alleviate such concerns.
 
#56      

WesterveltVictoryCigar

WesterveltVictoryCigar
WesterveltVictoryCigar
blmillini said:
It is embarrassing that we lost the rebounding battle with a D3 program. I don't care who was on the court, we should be winning rebound margin and points in the paint against any D2/D3 program. Those come down to size, strength, desire and fundamentals.
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Well, Thorne had foul troubles and Black wasn't playing. So this was pretty much last year's team without Nunn, who was one of the better rebounders last season. And that team was one of the worst in the country at rebounding, so it's not really a surprise that it was a problem.
 
#57      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
UrbanaIsTheShiz said:
MSU and Kentucky have done a lot of other things recently that would tend to alleviate such concerns.
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Exhibition games mean very little IMO, but I agree with your statement. It is OK, as far as you prove that you can have very successful seasons and both Kentucky and Michigan State have been very consistent contenders in college basketball.

As far as the original statement, I do not believe it is true though. I do not recall MSU and Kentucky losing exhibition games recently. I checked since 2010, and it has not happened, so not sure what "recently" means.
 
#58      

Idkhti37

I
Idkhti37
Can anyone who attended the game in person speak to the SFC experience? Any specific anecdotes about the final "new" product?
 
#60      

Illinifanatic4ever

Illinifanatic4ever
Orange & Blue Blood in my Veins
Illinifanatic4ever
Idkhti37 said:
Can anyone who attended the game in person speak to the SFC experience? Any specific anecdotes about the final "new" product?
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Wife and I enjoyed the new sound and lighting. As someone else said the scoreboard was acting crazy so I'm sure a few bugs to work out. The arena probably didn't have 5,000 in there and that's stretching it. It has really improved from the beginning of the project until now a ton.
 
#61      

blackdog

blackdog
Champaign
blackdog
Idkhti37 said:
Can anyone who attended the game in person speak to the SFC experience? Any specific anecdotes about the final "new" product?
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I posted about this in the renovation thread but the arena looks pretty awesome. Still seems like some finishing up they can do especially the second level concourses which are pretty bare at the moment. Scoreboard was glitching the entire game which is obviously something that needs to be fixed.

Will be interesting to see how loud it gets with more people. While there are more seats for students closer to the court they actually are a little farther back than Krush used to be. Not directly on the court.

I liked the new seats too. More comfortable than the old ones and you won't get kicked in the lower back all the time.
 
#62      

jrichisamazing

J
jrichisamazing
In Groce's first year here, we had quite a few close games that shouldn't have been close. Of course, we still ended up in the tournament. A couple years ago we were scoring 100+ early in the season and where did that get us? These games mean almost nothing. Just get the W and keep working hard in practice.
 
#63      

PostersLastStand

P
Wayne County, IL
PostersLastStand
I know it was Whitman giving them all our secret plays! As mentioned earlier in the thread, nice to hear Deon's take on the game. I still miss Jerry Hester, he is one of my favorite over achievers to ever play for the Illini.
 
#65      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
Exhibition Game Trivia: When was the last time the Illini lost both exhibition games?
 
#67      

alaskaillini

A
alaskaillini
Newman said:
I didn't watch the game and I'm not familiar with Wash U, but I heard that they were a good D3 team. I know some D3 teams are better than a lot of lower level D1 teams, but I don't know if Wash U is at the level. It's great to hear that we were up by a ton at one point. I'm okay with a meltdown towards the end if it's going to make the practices more intense.
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Wash U has a good program - won National Championships back to back a few years ago. Ranked #20 in D3 this year. There are a number of D2 teams that are easily better than lower level D1 teams, but not sure how many D3 teams you can say that about.
 
#74      

IlliniFoLife

I
IlliniFoLife
I don't put too much stock in the very first exhibition game. Everyone will be sloppy, not play tight defense, miss shots, and turn the ball over. It will take a while to work out the kinks. But I wasn't too happy with the play of the team in the first 10 mins. of the game and the last 10 mins. of the game. I thought they got things together between the under 8 timeout in the 1st half and maybe the under 12 timeout in the 2nd half. But, that's only roughly half the game.

I think Morgan looks like he'll be getting the starter's minutes but Thorne will get his fair share once he gets up to speed. I think this is the most big man depth that I remember us having had in a while. Even when we had Tisdale/Davis/Leonard back in 2010. That is also debatable considering Meyers was a freshman. We'll have Morgan/Thorne/Finke/Black and then Hill can play the 1-4 and has a lot of size.

Abrams looked pretty rusty but did make that one three that I saw so that's a good sign for someone who was never much of a 3 pt. shooter.

It was a rough sloppy game to watch but let's understand that this is the end of October and not the end of February.