Illinois 92, Longwood 45 POSTGAME

#4      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
I don't know how you let a team like that hang within 47 of you. Unforgivable.

/sarc


Lots of guys with time on the floor tonight, and even with a slow start the offense put up a lot of points. Tough time to be a Longwood player, but hopefully they find some things to make themselves better out of this.
 
#5      
I like the makings of a pretty good team in the future if we can get a quality big or 2! These guys have some talent and the future is bright!
On another note, was BU mad at Smith(?) near end of game for doing some showboating or something?
 
#6      
Got me outta the house, got a couple beers, and saw the whole lineup. I’ll take it. Now if I can get through the missus’ Christmas party in a couple days I’m takin’ the week as a rousing success. Go Illini!
 
#7      
That was way to much fun.

Got to see extended minutes of our bench.
 
#9      

Illiini

In the land of the Nittany Lion
Tough time to be a Longwood player, but hopefully they find some things to make themselves better out of this.

"I got run over by a steamroller...but at least I got my pants pressed for free."
 
#10      

Ubermensch

BOOM! Feed my ego.
Not much you can take away from this game. Some more experience for the younger guys which will hopefully add to their development later in the year.
 
#11      

Dan

Admin
Underwood: We challenged our team with a couple things before the game.

1. Ball movement: didn't want the ball to stick

2. Rebounding. Top-2 rebounders didn't play. Next-man-up mentality. Challenged perimeter players to do that. 7 from Te'Jon, 8 from Jordan, 7 Alstork

Underwood: Won't get 27 offensive rebounds often but those are effort plays. Good to see.

Underwood: Jordan gassed a bit in 2nd half. Screamed at Fletch to get him in better shape. Good to get that much playing time.

Underwood: We took too many threes. If you can tell me I'm getting that many offensive rebounds every night...

Underwood: I still got to get Mark Smith on the glass. It baffles me, his inability to get rebounds because he does it in practice.

Underwood: The year we beat WVU in tournament we had no one over 6-4. I don't make that big of a deal about size. I want Leron and Kipper, of course.

Underwood on Trent Frazier: "You can always tell when a player's feeling comfortable when you get lost in a game." Da'Monte's been in it. Mark's getting there last few games.

"Trent gets a whole different look about him."

Underwood on schedule getting tougher now: "We've got to understand that when it' hard, it's OK." ..."Now, we have to go out and do it."

Underwood: "I told our team, the next 20 games ... big-boy games."

Underwood: Matic Vesel "is nervous." Not every day you come to a new country, learn and meet new friends, deal with coach, college classes, be around 45,000 students. Pretty big adjustments.

Underwood on Vesel: Weight room "has been a big shock. Well, Fletch is the big shock."

Before/after pictures big difference.

"I'm a huge Matic guy."

https://twitter.com/JWerner247
 
#16      
4 close losses to top 150 teams.

New coach and new complicated system.

Lots of freshman getting meaningful minutes.

No returning team leader

Coaches ability to teach and also game prepare is obvious. His ability to see and direct what the competition is doing on top of that ability to teach and coach is going to yield dividends.

I like where this team is and cannot wait to see the learning curve from here on out.
 
#17      
I should let everyone enjoy the win, but I'll pee on the parade anyway.

I take nothing from this game except guys are taking pride in taking care of business. Instead of playing down like we did during the Groce years, we're getting that chip and swagger back. Love seeing that, and it's HARD to change the culture. Huge tip of the hat to Underwood.

But I think about our weaknesses and where we've been losing matchups, and nothing in this Longwood team should have challenged us. They even looked beaten early on. BIG teams are not going to roll over like that, they're not going to be that lacking in talent, and they're not going to be lacking in size/speed/aggression in the paint , which has been our biggest problem defensively. These guys were literally in the bottom handful of teams in the nation, and we had them at home. This is the kind of team that needs to come off the schedule.

I hope this game gives the players some morale, it's the closest thing to a gimmie a team could ask for. The difficulty of these next two non-conf games will be more like the games we've struggled with.
 
#18      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/coll...cle_dcd47586-a142-54fa-9324-cd114296654f.html

One game after committing a school-record tying 36 personal fouls, Illinois was whistled for 13.

But in the end, it was a balanced assault from Jordan (career-high 22 points, eight rebounds), Trent Frazier (career-high 20 points, four rebounds, four assists, four steals and zero turnovers), Michael Finke (19 points, seven rebounds) and Mark Alstork (10 points, seven rebounds).

Finke and Jordan said the growth of freshman point guard Frazier is making a difference.

“His versatility is great,” Finke said. “He can guard and score at the (point guard) spot and when you can shoot 3s like that, he brings a lot to the table.”

“You can definitely see his confidence growing game by game,” Jordan added. “It’s amazing.”


I really think Trent will be all B1G 1st team freshman this year
 
#19      

JFGsCoffeeMug

BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
I should let everyone enjoy the win, but I'll pee on the parade anyway.

I take nothing from this game except guys are taking pride in taking care of business. Instead of playing down like we did during the Groce years, we're getting that chip and swagger back. Love seeing that, and it's HARD to change the culture. Huge tip of the hat to Underwood.

But I think about our weaknesses and where we've been losing matchups, and nothing in this Longwood team should have challenged us. They even looked beaten early on. BIG teams are not going to roll over like that, they're not going to be that lacking in talent, and they're not going to be lacking in size/speed/aggression in the paint , which has been our biggest problem defensively. These guys were literally in the bottom handful of teams in the nation, and we had them at home. This is the kind of team that needs to come off the schedule.

I hope this game gives the players some morale, it's the closest thing to a gimmie a team could ask for. The difficulty of these next two non-conf games will be more like the games we've struggled with.

Calvin, I get what you're saying. But this game was never going to be about the competition. As Underwood kept stressing to the team, this game was about us. Our emphasis on moving the ball around, reducing dumb fouls, and motivating our guards to rebound will continue to pay dividends even when the competition steps up a notch (or several notches). That's what I'm taking from this game.
 
#20      

Deleted member 649710

D
Guest
New coach and new complicated system.

Lots of freshman getting meaningful minutes.

No returning team leader

Coaches ability to teach and also game prepare is obvious. His ability to see and direct what the competition is doing on top of that ability to teach and coach is going to yield dividends.

I like where this team is and cannot wait to see the learning curve from here on out.

^^THIS^^

Plus, we only have one good Big, and he wasn't playing.

We have three exciting, quality freshman guards, and we've got another one just as good or better coming in next season.

If Underwood can find a couple decent Bigs for the next class and 2019, the future will be very bright.
 
#21      
The game was what it was, DaMonte was flashing into the middle quite abit. I know we were short handed, but I would expect to see this and him be more of a secondary facilitator at those type of cuts at the free throw lane area. Shoot, drive, pass, I believe BU may have so much trust this may become more of his role from now on.
 
#22      

Illini_1979

Oregon
4 close losses to top 150 teams.

New coach and new complicated system.

Lots of freshman getting meaningful minutes.

No returning team leader

Coaches ability to teach and also game prepare is obvious. His ability to see and direct what the competition is doing on top of that ability to teach and coach is going to yield dividends.

I like where this team is and cannot wait to see the learning curve from here on out.
And, just like the players are learning the new system, BU is learning all of the players--their strengths, weaknesses, etc. I know he had time to do some of this in the preseason practices, but there is nothing like real game time to find out what a player is made of and who work best together.