Painter will put him 4th team on coaches
Illinois 88, Purdue 82 Postgame
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We've had talented freshmen produce their first season.....but nothing like this. Especially from a guy who many believed was an afterthought and be lucky to get 2 minutes in a game. Or even be a redshirt.
Speaking of #2, I don't recall anyone mentioning this (other than I did before). We were down 9 with 1 minute left. Frankie made a game winning layup, as Minnesota gifted us that possession. This directly led to us being in a 4-way tie for the conference championship (3-way after OSU was forced to vacate their part). Duke had just beat Maryland down 10 with 1 minute left the year before. This game was the hook, line, and sinker for my extreme fandom.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
The best part of that play is the dead silence as the ball goes thru. U can hear the swish of the ball thru the net on the tv broadcast.
AJ Dybantsa had 43/6/3 today.
Kingston Flemings had 42/6/2 today.
While great performances, neither are particularly close to being the best performance today.
Kingston Flemings had 42/6/2 today.
While great performances, neither are particularly close to being the best performance today.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
He just feels bad about what he did to Purdue.
It was crazy to see TKR get so emotional against David. Mirk kept it about business and TKR took himself out of the game. You'd never guess who was a senior and who was a freshman.
Of course Wagler is doing things I didn't think I'd ever see at Illinois, but the Mirk/TKR was really interesting to me too.
Of course Wagler is doing things I didn't think I'd ever see at Illinois, but the Mirk/TKR was really interesting to me too.
Wagler gave kudos to “the bigs” and there is something to that. If you are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in basketball, your shooters have the luxury of shooting without as much fear. You can see how comfortable all of our guys are shooting. Even our bigs are confident that the other bigs will have their back on the boards.
Watching K-R’s face down the stretch and knowing Purdue fans were going home cold, with a loss, and no nuggets was very satisfying.
I don't think it's an overreaction to say that Keaton Wagler is one of the top 10 players in Illinois basketball history. He is going to be a lottery pick in this year's NBA draft. Incredible talent. Smooth, confident, calm, and super humble. what a joy it is for line fans to be able to watch him play. Especially, when no one had a clue going into this season how good he is.
blackdog
- Champaign
43 on 24 shots for Dybantsa
42 on 26 shots for Flemings
46 on 17 shots for Wagler
All ridiculous performances but Keaton was by far the most efficient.
With all due respect, if KJ was drafted #20 and WR was drafted #21, KW should be taken 2 days before the draft.
biglug58
- Chicago, IL
Great Twilight Zone episode! Fitting perhaps, I think Keaton was in his own Twilight Zone
If you or anyone else ever thinks ESPN would put Illinois/Wagler/beating Purdue as a headline over the highest paid freshman, or a kid from Texas Tech...you're crazy! They just talked about both on the TCU/Baylor game. No mention of Wagler because they are in the B12...lol
TKR looked a like a d-bag the entire game, which ended how it should for d-bags...
And against the best opponent
Flemings was against a slightly lesser opponent in TTU, but Dybansta was vs Utah who is 113 kenpom and a quad 3 game so def a way easier team
To go down memory lane for once: when's the last time anyone in a CBB game had this great a performance? This isn't me saying it hasn't happened, but when's the last time it's happened? Any player included.
And it's not just 46pts. Factor in missing only 4 shots all game, and in a top5 road win.
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Anyone have tweets from Carter and Greg about this game/Keaton?
he was running his mouth at Mirk BIG TIME in the beginning of the game
and yeah, he pushes on every play, the travel they called on keaton was a clear push on the spin move
You are on to something here.
Those of us who have spent a considerable amount of our life throwing a large round ball at an elevated round hoop know what you’re talking about. This is the dream of every kid at an Inner-City park... a suburban kid finding some excitement away from living in a dull suburb... and the farm kid who is just plain happy to get away from doing chores for a while.
To all those others in the World who might not understand why so many young people around the World are throwing the same-shaped ball at the same-shaped hoop for hours and hours on end and doing this day after day for years... IT’S THE DREAM. Either the dream of monetary riches and fame one day... or the simple thrill of hearing cheers coming from friends in the high school gym... or just the neighborhood kids who happen to show up that hour at the park or community center who love the game without any other aspirations beyond than the PURE JOY OF PLAYING.
And one day... a Wagler comes along to show the World that Dreams do become true... the hidden gem that shocks the World with their formerly-unrecognized brilliance. That when no one else may have believed in them during all those hours and all those shots at all those hoops... They believed in Their own self. And that proved to be enough so they could prove it one day to everyone else. But not that they had to.
Sports at its finest is beyond the fame and the money and the broadcast rights and the endorsement deals and the egos and the sometimes sleaze. It’s about – Dreams. Thanks, Keaton... for reminding the World today.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
I dunno… I’m an Illini fan and I was as equally stunned.
On top of the all-time great performance from Wagler and the timely 3's down the stretch we won this game despite an incredible performance from Smith and an uncharacteristically bad day at the FT line.
He really, really, really did.
Ha! What a bunch of hypocritical p***ies! They had their all-conference senior point guard, and still couldn't win at home.
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