Nice start overall... a little concerned on 18/33 freethrows (55%).
Illinois 87, Eastern Illinois 57 Postgame
Dainjarous > Payneful
I wouldn’t be surprised if Syracuse gave us major problems when we catch them. We have time to find rhythm but our half court offense isn’t super clean yet. If we don’t find enough rhythm between now and then, their zone will give us problems.
Defensively we need to clean up our switches in the half court. We allow a lot of free runners, which can happen when 2 defenders end up going in the same direction. Communication.
The good news is both of those are cleaned up with more time and game reps. I LOVE our press. 95% patient and catch them with a trap call 1-2 times per half, or when they just make the mistake and it’s an easy read.
Excited to see that we busted out the Princeton point series tonight. I think that’s an Edey killer when we see Purdue. Run it with a “5” that can shoot and Edey HAS to step up. Run it with Dainja and Edey can sag, but then he can’t show on the ball screen. I know that’s looking way ahead, but that dude was a tough matchup for us when we had the best option in the country to guard him, we gotta wear him out.
Defensively we need to clean up our switches in the half court. We allow a lot of free runners, which can happen when 2 defenders end up going in the same direction. Communication.
The good news is both of those are cleaned up with more time and game reps. I LOVE our press. 95% patient and catch them with a trap call 1-2 times per half, or when they just make the mistake and it’s an easy read.
Excited to see that we busted out the Princeton point series tonight. I think that’s an Edey killer when we see Purdue. Run it with a “5” that can shoot and Edey HAS to step up. Run it with Dainja and Edey can sag, but then he can’t show on the ball screen. I know that’s looking way ahead, but that dude was a tough matchup for us when we had the best option in the country to guard him, we gotta wear him out.
Super impressed with Rodgers decision making. Dropped some dimes in the lane to his teammates running the floor instead of forcing contested action for his own shot (as a freshman in his first game that counts, no less). He has the size and athleticism to be on the receiving end as well when it all comes together for him. I definitely get the preseason hype. He and TSJ, by the end of the year, could be a tandem act we remember for a long time.
Nice start overall... a little concerned on 18/33 freethrows (55%).
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
some good, some areas need work, we won but a respectable margin
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
Hodges is insanely athletic. We were in 106 row 3 and we sitting just below rim level. His head was well above the rim on his dunks. More than once I found myself saying, "Damn!" as I watched him make those plays.
Rose, Jr. is a bulldog. Made good decisions with the ball and wasn't afraid to attack the rim or go for rebounds despite being the shortest guy on the court. He couldn't seem to miss in the first half and kept it closer than any of us thought it would be.
Malone and Carlesimo had some nice plays, too, but didn't stand out to me the way Hodges and Rose, Jr. did.
Hamlin seemed to play stronger than when he was with us, but didn't seem to dominate the way one might hope a guy who went up against Kofi in practice might have. He didn't let himself get bodied, but didn't seem like a particularly strong presence in the paint, either.
More than a little. For dain I see little room for optimism (hope im wrong) but others need to pick it up
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Yeah, tons of athleticism & talent on this squad (perhaps similar to the 1987/88 team). Maybe we're one year and 1-2 players away from being truly special. My two concerns:
-- 3-point shooting (I don't expect ColeHawk to hit at even a 38% clip all season, let alone 68%). Can our guards hit from beyond the arc?
-- Depth (10 scholarship players on the active roster right now, one of whom is Lieb. Thinking we're susceptible to additional injury at guard or in the paint.)
This looks like a talented team, however with all the new parts it's probably going to take a little time to get a solid identity of what type of team they have, nothing against Kofi as he was an all time Illini great, but there were times when the offense bogged down when they tried to force feed him in the post, the offense now seems to have more versatility. Overall did what they had to do against an inferior opponent, however, too many missed FTs! Have to clean that up; the upcoming competition is about to get much tougher.
Ran out of time to edit, but it should read Malaki Branham
I’d been critical of Mayer already, and I think he’s really gonna have to improve to win me over. Don’t care if you have a bad shooting night, but his effort and defense was pretty bad. Brad saw it too as he sat most of the 2nd half. Gotta be tenacious whether you’re 6-7 or 1-7 shooting.
If i did not know who he was, would of thought he was a "walk on."
Not surprisingly passing needs significant work.
If i did not know who he was, would of thought he was a "walk on."
Not surprisingly passing needs significant work.
In fairness to Mayer he's been injured. Has had back problems since he arrived in July.
I believe CH and TS will be fairly consistent throughout the season in their scoring, defense and rebounding production....for the rest of the team...I think we'll see a different player(s) contribute each night, depending upon the opponent and the matchups....last night it was Danji...next game I wouldn't be surprised to see RJ, Mayer or one of the Freshmen make a major contribution....I think that's what will make this team difficult for opponents...concentrate on Coleman and Terrance...get burnt by RJ...Sky....Sincere....etc Thinking this team will really be a handful come January....I really really do.
is that who we were playing?
Agreed, Rose and Hodges were fun to watch.
I thought Carlesimo was very in control for a freshman. I'm hyping him up a bit because of his name, but he's probably going to a power 5 school at some point. Maybe even next year if he progresses as the year goes on. You can definitely tell he's a coaches son, as cliché as that is.
And I could see Hamlin being a pretty good defensive force against OVC level competition.
I'm not making any predictions, because I have no idea what the OVC looks like this year. But I would be surprised if EIU isn't middle of the pack or better. They certainly won't be last like last year. And with Belmont and Murray St leaving, that conference seems wide open. Maybe EIU ends up winning it?
USAFILLINI
- Florida
RJ needs to get his mojo back. He didn't seem aggressive at all, hoping he can have a game where he drives the ball instead of settling for the long shot. Positive note is he lead the team in blocks.
Id like to see them set some stuff up for the next few games to get RJ and Mayer rolling.
11/29 we need to embarrass Syracuse.
Id like to see them set some stuff up for the next few games to get RJ and Mayer rolling.
11/29 we need to embarrass Syracuse.
This is completely irrelevant and may already have been covered. When we play Purdue, Edey will be guarding Hawkins, right? Which means he'll be about 23 feet from the hoop (which is close to where CoHawk hit his first one). And that means TSJ has 14 slamma-jammas against Purdue.
Also, Mayer hit his first bucket on a backcut. I do not remember the last time the Illini scored a layup on a backcut.
Lots of things to clean up...but the glimpses of awesomeness were, well, awesome.
Also, Mayer hit his first bucket on a backcut. I do not remember the last time the Illini scored a layup on a backcut.
Lots of things to clean up...but the glimpses of awesomeness were, well, awesome.
I'm not worried about RJ. Once he sees a couple go in he will be fine.
Mayer is a little concerning. He had some health setbacks off and on at Baylor. Hopefully it's not a scenario where he just never gets comfortable and can't find any consistency. We really need his shooting, especially with Goode out.
Mayer is a little concerning. He had some health setbacks off and on at Baylor. Hopefully it's not a scenario where he just never gets comfortable and can't find any consistency. We really need his shooting, especially with Goode out.
Decision-making was his biggest thing to improve on. Based on very limited results thus far, he has definitely improved.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
How did we end up down 3 scholarships. That seems like a larger amount than desired, yes? Perrine didn't come, but what else contributed?
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
hooraybeer
- Pittsburgh, PA
tough to draw many conclusions from this game, EIU was clearly overmatched. However, if this is the MM we get the rest of the season, our ceiling goes down quite a bit IMO