Saw Underwoods comments about defense. There were philosophical breakdowns ALL last year. The field goal percentages against Illini in B10 play were high for the most part. What i saw of this defense last year is they will create turnovers but also give up a lot of open shots. 'They stopped playing defense". That's your job you better get them to play D or you better score 85 to 90 points a game like OKST did. Philosophical mistakes should be very teachable!
Illinois 83, Illinois Wesleyan 67 (Exhibition) POSTGAME
Illini_1979
- Oregon
Highlights are up.
1) Feliz for Lucas trade is already a proven positive (we don't need to wait for mid-season).
2) Griffin is the real deal.
3) The KEY to this season and the success we could potentially have hinges on Adonis! If he can give 25 minutes and 8 rebounds, along with adequate defense, THEN we have a chance to go very far this year!
2) Griffin is the real deal.
3) The KEY to this season and the success we could potentially have hinges on Adonis! If he can give 25 minutes and 8 rebounds, along with adequate defense, THEN we have a chance to go very far this year!
Just saw the stats. Got out rebounded 34-30 by Wesly. Wow! Gave up 13 threes! I like DaMonte but he is going to have to be much more of a factor on offense this year.Kipper is in a new role. He is being looked at as the leader and much is expected. That's pressure. We'll see how he responds ti it
While I respect this kind of optimism from some every year. We will for sure be in the bottom half of the Big Ten and most likely in the bottom 3. They can maybe make the tournament next year if some of the bigs make large improvements, unfortunately I still don’t think that is very likely due to lack of talent at the 4/5 positions.
Some takeaways...
Backcourt...52 points from TF, AF and Ayo....proof on backcourt strength
KN...missed several in paint shots. He'll be fine.
5 position...Giorgi and Samba both better than I expected.. Samba prob got 5 minutes but had nice putback and caused turnover inbounds in brief time. Very good movement and both fairly quick for bigs. Giorgi is lively and good offensive game and makes the refs laugh. I dont like KN, AJ or TJ at the 5...seemed to see it alot based on Wesleyan size.
Opponent...really scrappy Wesleyan team. Good exhibition matchup.
Needs work....
--outside-in passing. Bigs need to provide a better target so defenders cant easily poke away entry passes from behind. Guards need better judgement on making entry passes.
-better 3p defense
-TF freethrows
--Ayo better pass judgement
-overall better defensive rebounding...no excuse giving Wesleyan 7 offensive rebounds
Backcourt...52 points from TF, AF and Ayo....proof on backcourt strength
KN...missed several in paint shots. He'll be fine.
5 position...Giorgi and Samba both better than I expected.. Samba prob got 5 minutes but had nice putback and caused turnover inbounds in brief time. Very good movement and both fairly quick for bigs. Giorgi is lively and good offensive game and makes the refs laugh. I dont like KN, AJ or TJ at the 5...seemed to see it alot based on Wesleyan size.
Opponent...really scrappy Wesleyan team. Good exhibition matchup.
Needs work....
--outside-in passing. Bigs need to provide a better target so defenders cant easily poke away entry passes from behind. Guards need better judgement on making entry passes.
-better 3p defense
-TF freethrows
--Ayo better pass judgement
-overall better defensive rebounding...no excuse giving Wesleyan 7 offensive rebounds
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Deleted member 29907
D
Guest
Good summary - I'd add that Giorgi has very good feet (obvious because he's the best dancer on the team) and hopefully that will help us against Happ. Also liked that he was inciting the crowd and constantly up on his feet on the bench.
Was a bit concerned that IW got more rebounds than we did and we looked out of position on D alot during the last 10 minutes - thus alot of easy look 3s.
It also seemed like we got very few points off our offensive cuts - IW D'd that up pretty well, and we seemed a bit stalled against the zone.
It was nice to see us come out bombing 3s with alot of confidence.
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Deleted member 29907
D
Guest
Trent pretty much picked up where he left off last year ( a bit of rust). He missed some FTs, had a few turnovers and forced a few in traffic, but then went down court and got the steal. Without looking at the stats, it felt like a good shooting night for Trent.
As far as getting beat on the boards, tell Giorgi that and see what he does in the next game. This would be the kind of challenge to throw at him all season. Like, "Hey, Giorgi, we had this shortcoming, what are you going to do about it?" kind of thing. I do not like getting out-rebounded. That is not Fighting Illini-ish!
I'd be a little careful...he may foul out in first 5 minutes of Evansville game.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
This team looks way ahead of last year's team at this point but that is not a high std. Huge plus in transition offense and shooting. Giorgi > Finke, AF> TJL , Ayo>MS. Eleven of our turnovers were by our 3 PG's and that is correctable. If Adonis gets healthy, we can compete. Only Jones didn't match expectations and it is early.
My biggest concern is going to be teams with explosive bigs and multiple bigs. Need to get Adonis healthy and in the line up.
We will not be beaten by too many back courts this year. Feliz, Ayo, and Trent will own most guard combos.
For those who didn't watch the game the freshmen are legit. Imho giorgi ahead of Mav, Samba ahead of Nnana. Griffin comparable to Coleman-Lands. Haven't had players like Tevian and Ayo. Tevian's first game, only played 10 minutes. Seemed unsure at times. He will be special. All great recruits.
We will not be beaten by too many back courts this year. Feliz, Ayo, and Trent will own most guard combos.
For those who didn't watch the game the freshmen are legit. Imho giorgi ahead of Mav, Samba ahead of Nnana. Griffin comparable to Coleman-Lands. Haven't had players like Tevian and Ayo. Tevian's first game, only played 10 minutes. Seemed unsure at times. He will be special. All great recruits.
Thanks for posting video
I don't believe there is any way we end up in the bottom 3 of the Big Ten this year!
Watched last night around midnight. Yuck. Apologies if I’m repeating what others said.
Bad. Bad. Bad. I will say that some of it seemed “planned for.” We played everybody a-lot so that’s not ever gonna happen again. Also the lineups and substitutions were coming rapid fire. It looked to me like one of the coaching goals was to get as much stuff on film as possible, good or bad. We definitely accomplished that.
Defense: Horrible. Out of position, cross matched, looked like we didn’t communicate on way too many possessions. To be expected with a bunch of new faces, but to me Ayo was particularly bad. Gonna be a rough film session. You can really see the difference in the guys who have been in the system 2 years.
Offense: Passing looked horrendous. The force feeds to the low post made me want to puke. Related to that, we hardly ever reversed the ball to the third side vs man. If we did, the post entries would open up. Trying to force feed things after one reversal just doesn’t work.
Shooting 3s was a bright spot. Shooting free throws was not. Feliz has a very impressive feel for the game. You can see the experience difference there.
The good thing is our most glaring errors were all correctable. I’d love to be a fly ion the wall in that film session. Over under in bad words per minute, 15. This team will be significantly better in a couple months. And significantly better a couple months after that. There is a ton to clean up in the immediate though.
Bad. Bad. Bad. I will say that some of it seemed “planned for.” We played everybody a-lot so that’s not ever gonna happen again. Also the lineups and substitutions were coming rapid fire. It looked to me like one of the coaching goals was to get as much stuff on film as possible, good or bad. We definitely accomplished that.
Defense: Horrible. Out of position, cross matched, looked like we didn’t communicate on way too many possessions. To be expected with a bunch of new faces, but to me Ayo was particularly bad. Gonna be a rough film session. You can really see the difference in the guys who have been in the system 2 years.
Offense: Passing looked horrendous. The force feeds to the low post made me want to puke. Related to that, we hardly ever reversed the ball to the third side vs man. If we did, the post entries would open up. Trying to force feed things after one reversal just doesn’t work.
Shooting 3s was a bright spot. Shooting free throws was not. Feliz has a very impressive feel for the game. You can see the experience difference there.
The good thing is our most glaring errors were all correctable. I’d love to be a fly ion the wall in that film session. Over under in bad words per minute, 15. This team will be significantly better in a couple months. And significantly better a couple months after that. There is a ton to clean up in the immediate though.
Would not say we have 3 of the best 6 point in the BIG, but I would take our 3rd guard over anyone else in the BIG, though I am not up on what the other teams have.
Happy with a reasonable victory. Too early to tell much. Little scary to see them get to within 12, if we are not up 25 at that point, it would really be an issue.
Feliz looked great, was not sure what to expect, in coach speak and highlight reels everyone looks great. Giorgi has fight, hopefully he can use that in a positive fashion. Liked the comment that we have a player that the other teams will hate, and he hasn't played a game that counts yet.
I feel better after the game than before, hopefully the team can gel and our guards can overcome the lack of true bigs.
GO ILLINI!
Happy with a reasonable victory. Too early to tell much. Little scary to see them get to within 12, if we are not up 25 at that point, it would really be an issue.
Feliz looked great, was not sure what to expect, in coach speak and highlight reels everyone looks great. Giorgi has fight, hopefully he can use that in a positive fashion. Liked the comment that we have a player that the other teams will hate, and he hasn't played a game that counts yet.
I feel better after the game than before, hopefully the team can gel and our guards can overcome the lack of true bigs.
GO ILLINI!
Didn't watch the game but we sure looked like we made all the shots in the highlight video. 
ok...I know highlights only choose the good plays, but I love how Feliz welcomed contact and is strong enough to get a shot off....and in. Didn't see much on the defensive end, but I can't imagine any of our deficiencies can't be corrected....mostly....glad the season is here so there are some posts besides the recruiting thread.
ok...I know highlights only choose the good plays, but I love how Feliz welcomed contact and is strong enough to get a shot off....and in. Didn't see much on the defensive end, but I can't imagine any of our deficiencies can't be corrected....mostly....glad the season is here so there are some posts besides the recruiting thread.
Last night was chaotic but I think that was to be expected with the lineups and first game jitters. This game was no more meaningful than a secret scrimmage. Feliz and Giorgi stood out the most to me in that they exceeded expectations for what I was thinking they’d look like early in the season. They have tons to work on still but there were glimpses of hope. I really hope somebody can get in Underwood’s ear about how the minute allocation looks for recruiting. I get playing walkons but none of them should get more minutes than scholarship players in this kind of game.
ILFaninFL
- Nature Coast in Florida
I watched the game and I think the summaries are probably spot on. It looked very much like a first game, especially on defense. Wesleyan was able to shoot too many uncontested threes. We did a much better job of not letting guards drive on us, but that might have been because they'd decided to shoot the long ball to get back into it.
Two things worry me. Rebounding and inbound plays under our own basket. We were out rebounded by a much smaller and not very athletic team. Why did we have a freshman guard throwing the ball in under our basket. I had flashbacks from last year when we lost games because of just that.
Overall, there were flashes of what we can be. If Kipper has a normal game and the guard play continues we will win more games this year. Overall, I like what I saw.
Two things worry me. Rebounding and inbound plays under our own basket. We were out rebounded by a much smaller and not very athletic team. Why did we have a freshman guard throwing the ball in under our basket. I had flashbacks from last year when we lost games because of just that.
Overall, there were flashes of what we can be. If Kipper has a normal game and the guard play continues we will win more games this year. Overall, I like what I saw.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Shoutout to our fans. Coming off a no postseason season, that’s good fan support for an exhibition.
He would have more trouble against B10....but he was crafty against bigger players at the bucket. TJL had that too. Feliz didnt show outside game but I know he has it. Feliz is awesome pickup. AG is too. If these are type of guys we get in spring recruiting...Im all in.
Agree with some other posts....not sure why we played deep bench over Samba and TJ playing time....they need reps to gain confidence.
And Kathy right before says no way bottom 3 of B10. So kathy/5 star blend is....
Yuck against IW, but no way we end up in bottom 3 of B10.
Q for 5 star is did we look better than EIU performance last yr?
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