Man that was fun to watch. I would be lying if I didn't despair at times in the second half with careless turnovers mounting and some bad decision making but I just kept sipping on my stout and let the boys roll with a 10 point lead the whole way. That was a comfortable win over Duke. For those claiming Duke's ineptitude pump the brakes. They have a senior guard and literally MickieDs surrounding him. There is a reason we were getting blocked at the rim and stripped of the ball. These dudes are high level stars of which many will be playing at the next level. They have now lost twice early season to us and Mich St. two very good squads that will end up ranked quite high. Nothing to get bent out of shape about. Speaking of getting bent out of shape, how about the smackdown the Big is putting on the ACC, love to see. I watched the second half of the BC v Minny game and the conference was looking an 0-2 start squarely in the face but the Golphers found their groove and now the conference is up 6-1. Feels right.
On to the game, some may not like this but, I love a 7 man rotation with spot minutes for the others, Hawk got 9 so nearly an 8 man rotation. But in my mind with an honest rotation of 7 guys getting 20plus is damn near ideal. These guys have the energy to handle that load. All 7 of the main contributors were vital to this win and all played well. Where to start??? Well, with Ayo I guess. Man he just lets the game play and finds a way to be the ultimate teammate. Unselfish, yet gets his, crashes the boards, sets up plays, guards tremendously hard and handles the ball up the court at times(gets god awful offensive fouls called on him). TOs are down, assists are up, rebounds are up, percentages are all up, scoring is up. Playing damn near every minute. This is player of the year type stuff. Thank God this guy choose Illinois! He has rebirthed the team.
This is the best Giorgi and Kofi have looked on the court together, hell they were dropping dimes to each other. Kofi should've put away a couple of bunnies in this one and I think is slightly suffering for a confidence sway. But he still was a factor and down the stretch did an excellent job protecting the rim on some slashing drives and helped mightily to Illinois out rebounding Duke, a stat that should never be overlooked. What can be said about Giorgi, this kid has kept his chin up and is now carved out a true role on this team. Scoring and rebounding. Energy. 6th man of the year??
Must talk about the point guard tandem(if you can call them that, maybe just the short guys) of Bello and Trent. Yes there were 10 TOs, that is concerning(to be honest I only remember 3 from Trent) and needs to be cleaned up, but these 2 are doing so many things well. Guys, Trent is avearging 4.4 three point attempts a game and is hitting them at a 50% clip. He is incredibly unselfish and very efficient scorer right now, deadly combo for a non-featured player. And Bello!! Those slip and slide moves are dreamy, keep doing your thing! Maybe don't jack up heat checks from long range because you've been slicing to the rim, that is not what a heat check is meant for. Just tone it down 1/2 a notch, not a lot stay unpredictable. Guys is making a run for next man crush.
And I will not forget Ace and DMW, perfect from behind the line for the tandem. Ace has such a sweet stroke from long range and he got this game started on the good foot. His diving save where he hit his funny bone after DMW blocked the lob was my favorite play of the night. Nothing easy, both of these guys had two steals and logged heavy minutes. yeah he was in foul trouble much of the game but Damonte is the ultimate glue guy. Not to mention is literally guarding guys every game that he gives up like 4 inches too and apparently cannot miss from three land.
Great, great team effort. Lets go beat the !!!! out MIzzou.
Looks like he choose wrong
