Illinois 82, Washington U 75 POSTGAME (Exhibition)
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The correct answer is 1997. In Lon Kruger's second season, the Illini lost both exhibition games before surprising everyone by winning the B1G (tied for 1st) with a 13-3 record. That was arguably the most surprising/overachieving team in school's history: Heldman, Turned, Hester, Johnson, and Gee, etc.
Back then exhibitions were a little different, mostly against a collection of foreign teams (often branded as "National Teams", although most were not) and traveling teams of ex-college players put together for exhibition games purposes (e.g., Athletes in Action, NBC Thunder, etc.).
The Illini got crushed by 26, losing to a team from Australia ("Australian National Team") by the score of 87-61, and then lost their second exhibition game to NBC Thunder 86-83. The same NBC Thunder team had lost to Eastern Illinois by 14 points in an earlier exhibition game. The Illini looked terrible in both games, yet they surprised everyone the rest of the season and won the B1G.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Interesting. That was going to be my second guess
thumb. Not sure how you recall or where you found that. However, it just goes to show how little these early exhibition games are an indicator of how good a team is ultimately going to be throughout the course of a real college season. I expect there will be an adjustment period as this team gels again with having so many new pieces back, but once they do I can see this team being very tough to stop as long as they can correct their defensive deficiencies from last season (and of course the caveat of everyone remaining healthy).Unfortunately, I found out the hard way, I attended those games.
It is a good trivia because unless people attended those games or followed that season closely, it is difficult to get the answer just by doing google searches. Once you know it happened in 1997, you can obviously research specific dates/scores, but very difficult without knowing the year because most exhibition game data was not kept in record books, sites back then.
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That team certainly did get off to a rough start. I remember they played an early season tournament in Puerto Rico and looked terrible with tons of turnovers. The turning point of that season was a loss to UCLA when they found out Kevin Turner was pretty good.
Remember the game very well, Illini came back in the second half behind Turner and Storey, succumbing to UCLA late in the game. Probably Awvee Storey's finest game as an Illini, but his career at Illinois did not last.
Most of what I have to say is a repeat of what has already been said, but I'll give my review.
The last couple minutes of the first half until around the second t.v. timeout in the second half, the Illini played pretty well. They moved the ball, they got out in transition, and my favorite, they played lock down D. The other 28 or so minutes were ugly. I told myself a couple times, that it is only an exhibition and it is the first game, but I felt I saw too many of the same mistakes and issues that have plagued the last couple of teams.
Offensively, most of the first half our offense was a high ball screen or two, which were never set. Literally, the post players never even came close to setting the screen. Four players would then stand around, while the ball handler dribbled, with maybe one or two passes into a highly contested shot. Definitely not the ingredients for a successful offense.
When we got into our good stretch, our defense was really creating offense. We were getting steals and forcing very tough shots that we could run-out on and get layups. Every shot was contested. Even in the half court,on offense, all 5 guys were moving, drive-and-kick, back-doors, no "hero" ball, you name it...we looked like a really good team and were getting easy looks. Got up 29 or so and the tv timeout and everything completely changed. Back to the "hero" ball and lazy defense and turnovers. 29 went to 12 in what seemed like a minute. Just seemed like a microcosm of our season last year. Play extremely well in spurts and then just forget what we were doing that worked.
A few notes...
Abrams- Looked really good. Seemed so calm, even when he got into the lane. He'd take his time and find the open guy. Could get into the lane any time he wanted. His outside shot even looked pretty good. I believe he was 1-2 from 3 and the miss was in and out. Most impressive player for me yesterday.
Te'jon Lucas- Also had a pretty solid game despite not having an impressive score sheet. He made some really nifty passes and probably should have had at least 5 assists. He hit a couple of our posts players with some great passes that should have been easy dunks, but went right through their hands.
Finke- Played pretty solid for the most part. Don't think offense will ever be a problem with him. Defensively he was pretty solid and he really battled on the boards. Thought he got a little lazy at times and had some really bad turnovers due to the lazy part.
Morgan- Same with Finke for the most part. Offensively he is really good. Defensively he still has his troubles. Did have a couple of nice box-outs, but wish he would go to the boards a lot harder.
Thorne- Is his knee still bothering him? Seemed to labor around and was in slow motion. Just didn't look healthy.
Williams- Man, when he's on the court, he looks like an NBA player. The size, length, and athleticism (hopefully the skills [progress). He made a couple of really nice plays and then a few "that's why he doesn't play more" type of plays. The tools are all there. Obviously, if he puts it all together, look out.
The last couple minutes of the first half until around the second t.v. timeout in the second half, the Illini played pretty well. They moved the ball, they got out in transition, and my favorite, they played lock down D. The other 28 or so minutes were ugly. I told myself a couple times, that it is only an exhibition and it is the first game, but I felt I saw too many of the same mistakes and issues that have plagued the last couple of teams.
Offensively, most of the first half our offense was a high ball screen or two, which were never set. Literally, the post players never even came close to setting the screen. Four players would then stand around, while the ball handler dribbled, with maybe one or two passes into a highly contested shot. Definitely not the ingredients for a successful offense.
When we got into our good stretch, our defense was really creating offense. We were getting steals and forcing very tough shots that we could run-out on and get layups. Every shot was contested. Even in the half court,on offense, all 5 guys were moving, drive-and-kick, back-doors, no "hero" ball, you name it...we looked like a really good team and were getting easy looks. Got up 29 or so and the tv timeout and everything completely changed. Back to the "hero" ball and lazy defense and turnovers. 29 went to 12 in what seemed like a minute. Just seemed like a microcosm of our season last year. Play extremely well in spurts and then just forget what we were doing that worked.
A few notes...
Abrams- Looked really good. Seemed so calm, even when he got into the lane. He'd take his time and find the open guy. Could get into the lane any time he wanted. His outside shot even looked pretty good. I believe he was 1-2 from 3 and the miss was in and out. Most impressive player for me yesterday.
Te'jon Lucas- Also had a pretty solid game despite not having an impressive score sheet. He made some really nifty passes and probably should have had at least 5 assists. He hit a couple of our posts players with some great passes that should have been easy dunks, but went right through their hands.
Finke- Played pretty solid for the most part. Don't think offense will ever be a problem with him. Defensively he was pretty solid and he really battled on the boards. Thought he got a little lazy at times and had some really bad turnovers due to the lazy part.
Morgan- Same with Finke for the most part. Offensively he is really good. Defensively he still has his troubles. Did have a couple of nice box-outs, but wish he would go to the boards a lot harder.
Thorne- Is his knee still bothering him? Seemed to labor around and was in slow motion. Just didn't look healthy.
Williams- Man, when he's on the court, he looks like an NBA player. The size, length, and athleticism (hopefully the skills [progress). He made a couple of really nice plays and then a few "that's why he doesn't play more" type of plays. The tools are all there. Obviously, if he puts it all together, look out.
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Interesting. That was going to be my second guess
Actually, Kruger is known for this. Says 90% of what he teaches in the preseason is defense. Offensively, "they'll figure it out."
If guys are a little confused at this point, I'm ok with that. Hope we have a sense of urgency by the time games are real, though. We only have a few tough tests in the non-conf i.e. opportunities for quality wins.
t7nich
- Central IL
+1. TJL could be really special down the road. Plays both ends hard, great IQ/court vision. Will take him some time to develop his scoring confidence at this level I think, but that’s to be expected. As long as he keeps doing what he’s doing he’ll be just fine backing up Tracy.
Have to think the “wrap” on JCL’s shooting hand is having an effect. Hope I’m wrong and he shoots lights out on Friday and leads us in scoring!
Agree with the other poster who commented on Thorne. And based on Groce's comments it seems to be more an issue of him getting his conditioning/stamina back up.
illinitrav
- NW Suburbs
Combes, where do you get your +/- stats.
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