Big Jack
- Decatur
Illinois 88, Purdue 82 Postgame
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Watching the breakdowns of film have been awesome. I'll admit, there is a lot of nuance that I took for granted in our offense.
Couple post game thoughts...
Purdue fans still think their team has never committed a foul at home. I'll give it to them, they ride the refs as much if not more than Izzo lol.
I loved seeing Wagler hit daggers and then very business like get back on D. Really a stark contrast to a guy like TKR who was a spaz anytime he scored. Act like you've been there before.
I'll rewatch this one many more times I'm sure.
Couple post game thoughts...
Purdue fans still think their team has never committed a foul at home. I'll give it to them, they ride the refs as much if not more than Izzo lol.
I loved seeing Wagler hit daggers and then very business like get back on D. Really a stark contrast to a guy like TKR who was a spaz anytime he scored. Act like you've been there before.
I'll rewatch this one many more times I'm sure.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Mirk is a crazy m’effer with, as someone here said earlier “golden retriever energy.”
From my understanding from watching the game and these breakdowns, here’s the bind teams are put in with those 1-5 ball screens with Keaton.
There’s three potential ways to combat it:
1) put two on the ball. Mike mentions it, Illinois has completely torn apart that coverage this season. Missouri of course the most prominent example, but same with the end of the Purdue game. I also think this is the biggest difference between Wagler and KJ last season — when you blitzed KJ, you had a chance to get him in indecision, which resulted in turnovers. With Keaton, that’s simply not the case — only 30 turnovers all season, 2.66 AST/TO ratio.
2) would be to switch. Not sure we need any explanation here, as we all saw ourselves Saturday. Cluff will be seeing baby face Keaton in his nightmares.
3) would be to play drop coverage, and just sit Cluff in the paint. I don’t think Purdue ever went to this coverage as an adjustment. The problem you run is that you give up pick and pop threes to Tomi all game. That’s a guy who made a living off those shots just a season ago, and Mirkovic and Z are also pretty good shooters. Plus, if the ball screen is set high enough, and there’s enough space, that’s just a simply pull up jumper for Keaton (just like it was so many times for Braden Smith).
….
I guess the 4th option would be to play zone. FYI for those who don’t know, Painter is like the biggest opposer to playing a zone defense. Anyhow, the zone did prove to be somewhat effective…. but for only one mere half against Minnesota. The problem you run here is throughout the course of the game, you open yourself up to getting absolutely destroyed on the offensive glass. And, yeah, Illinois is a pretty decent 3pt shooting unit (3rd in the Big Ten).
Overall, just a complete headache for opposing coaches to have to deal with.
The insane amount of Keaton Wagler talk on national shows right now 
The insane amount of Keaton Wagler talk on national shows right now
Mike did a good job of explaining a big reason why we were able to grab so many offensive rebounds Saturday.
TKR says “Yep”
That's a good summary, there are other nuances of how to play the pick and roll coverage, like
4. The big stays out on Tomi and the guard fights through over the screen on Keaton - you are giving Keaton a downhill lane in this coverage so you will either get in your help defense and give up the kickout passes or let Keaton do his thing in the lane - Purdue did try this late in the game on a couple of screens and Keaton got his floater off over Cox on one of them.
The main point is you have to decide what you want to give up- because Keaton will make the right play, do you want him shooting threes or driving in the lane or kicking it out to others. That's what makes our offense so hard to stop
The coaching staff should start teaching ‘basketball 101’ about junk defense and how to attack it. Wonder if some team will run an odd gimmicky concept specifically for Illini. It won’t be run well, so if the team knows the basics and how to attack it, they should be ok. What are some- box and 1, odd zones like 3-2. Triangle and 2 or is that offense?
You couldn't be more right. Afterall our offense is a lowly second in efficiency in the NCAA. I think the coaches are doing fine with the approach they are using. As long as we have the front line we have, opposition defenses are going to have to seal our big 3 off, if they can't it won't matter what defense they run.
I just watched Purdue v. Indiana. Both teams stunk.
I just watched Purdue v. Indiana. Both teams stunk.
For those who want it.... nearly a 5 minute highlight vid of Keaton (every basket; including free throws):
I don't want to take anything away from Keaton. He's incredible and he's 18 so I'm sure he would be moreso if he was still playing college basketball as a 5th year senior.
However, I don't think you can just boil down the stats and say they were similar productive players 5th year TJ was the most dominant perimeter player in the last 20 years imo.
He was a legitimate freak of nature. Best perimeter defender on the team and he could drop 40 without being ball dominant. Domask handled the ball for the most part and Shannon scored through creating easy buckets in transition, catch and shoots, and curling off screens and attacking downhill.
This is just my opinion and I'm probably biased but I think 5th year TJ was every bit as dominant as guys like Flagg, Zion, Durant and Melo were in college. Most dominant Illini player I've ever seen don the jersey.
However, I don't think you can just boil down the stats and say they were similar productive players 5th year TJ was the most dominant perimeter player in the last 20 years imo.
He was a legitimate freak of nature. Best perimeter defender on the team and he could drop 40 without being ball dominant. Domask handled the ball for the most part and Shannon scored through creating easy buckets in transition, catch and shoots, and curling off screens and attacking downhill.
This is just my opinion and I'm probably biased but I think 5th year TJ was every bit as dominant as guys like Flagg, Zion, Durant and Melo were in college. Most dominant Illini player I've ever seen don the jersey.
The problem for KJ was that last years team didn't shoot well for the most part. Boswell was shooting like 19% at this time last year and a lot of time he would get blitzed by help defenders. I think his indecision was caused by trying to do too much Tomi was really the only guy who was shooting well for the most part(35.7 from 3). For comparison this years team Wagler has 4 teammates shooting better than Tomi did last year(Davis, Mirkovic, Tomi, and Z).
4) You hedge the screen and force Wagler away from the basket while allowing the initial defender to stay him. This can make you a bit susceptible to the roll guy but the Illini dont really have a physical big that's going to dominate rolling to the basket and the big should be able to recover enough to challenge a pick and pop.
Personally, if I was game planning to guard Illinois right now I'd pick up Wagler 94 feet and treat him like you would Steph Curry(face guard off ball and be extremely physical). I would rotate through physical defenders and just make it hell to get up the court and make it difficult to even get the ball. Basically the idea would be to completely wear him out for crunch time and try to make someone else initiate the offense which is a major question mark with Boswell injured.
In pnr situations, id hedge everything, try to force everything toward the sidelines away from the middle of the court, and throw the occasional double at him. If Illinois screens guard on guard you can switch.
Its easier said than done but if you can accomplish it you're likely looking at making Stojakovic beat you. Which he's more than capable of dropping 30 and doing that but I'd rather take my chances on that.
4) You hedge the screen and force Wagler away from the basket while allowing the initial defender to stay him. This can make you a bit susceptible to the roll guy but the Illini dont really have a physical big that's going to dominate rolling to the basket and the big should be able to recover enough to challenge a pick and pop.
Personally, if I was game planning to guard Illinois right now I'd pick up Wagler 94 feet and treat him like you would Steph Curry(face guard off ball and be extremely physical). I would rotate through physical defenders and just make it hell to get up the court and make it difficult to even get the ball. Basically the idea would be to completely wear him out for crunch time and try to make someone else initiate the offense which is a major question mark with Boswell injured.
In pnr situations, id hedge everything, try to force everything toward the sidelines away from the middle of the court, and throw the occasional double at him. If Illinois screens guard on guard you can switch.
Its easier said than done but if you can accomplish it you're likely looking at making Stojakovic beat you. Which he's more than capable of dropping 30 and doing that but I'd rather take my chances on that.
I'm confused. You think the coaching staff should practice against defenses that are unconventional because there is a chance some team may spring it on them? That seems like a waste of valuable practice time.
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1m4tr
Cliffmas
Illini fan in Tennessee
- Eastern Tennessee
Heck yeah. The Purdue game was awesome. This team is going to the Elite Eight.
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