Illinois 96, Northwestern 66 Postgame
When you leave players in the game far longer than necessary when the game is already done, you're playing with fire. This is how people get hurt and injured. Chris Collins even mentioned that he pulled Boo and Langborg b/c the game was out of hand even with 7-8 mins left to go. So, why doesn't Underwood see the logic in pulling one or two guys to prevent an injury or to prevent something from getting out of hand. When you're humiliating an opponent and a rival, that can backfire on you. It didn't tonight but that's why football teams pull their starting QB's when they're winning by 30 pts. Prevent potential for injury and not to stoke the flames for potential hard or intentional fouls
CoHawk has been shooting with his feet set more recently, as well as a bit more arc. His consistency in distance has been really good but he seems to miss left and right...mostly due to drifting or rushing. When he gets to the pros, he will spend hours every day trying to get set, go straight up, put his hands on the ball consistently, and will become an elite shooter. He always had the basic assets, just needs the right information and he will get it. Cookie became a 3 pt. specialist in his latter years...and Hawkins will maybe be even better.
Great post. Agreed. As fans, we want them all to do well. However, also as fans, we want a big time season. I still think that there's going to be some adversity ahead and some potential choppy waters as we get into these nastier venues with more athletic teams. He needs to roll out his best five.
Without TSJ, this has been basically like starting the season over. He needs to find combinations that work. Great first two games, but again....rough waters ahead.
THAT SAID, Dain is going to have to play a big role against Edey. That'll be the toughest assignment of the year(obviously).
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I'm really liking these full 40 minutes of hell from the beloved.....I really really am.......The dismantling of the purple nerds was a sight to see.........hitting on all cylinders on offense & defense...........crisp passing when they tried to double team the ball opened our offense for layups and open 3's.......................
The Doctor with 32 pts, 5 assists and I don;t know how many rebs...............
harmon with 20 pts and 3-4 3's..........
cohawk with ELITE D and hustled for a lot of pts..........
I was smiling so much guys that I forgot to write down a lot of stats , so I'll just say HELLS YEAH FIGHTING ILLINI !!!!!!!!!!!!
that was so much fun pru........it really really was .....see you guys in a couple days .....OK ?
Can't wait babe ....we really really can't............................................
heavy....solid.............right on................stone cold groove......................I can dig it !!!!!!!........................
Cheers Illini Nation...................
Andy Katz is a klutz............Illini # 6 in the B$G behind the mildcats.......Klutz , put down the pipe dude........
hey chrissy , enjoy your ride back to the boondocks baby.....you just got PUNK3d......................
another one bites the dust.....another one bites the dust............And Kofi's jersey sighting in the rafters.......
Livin the good life as an Illini fanatic.........I really really am..................
BU post game....................
we made shots...............
got really good shots ....
17 assists...........
cohawk was ELITE on defense..........
QG , JH and the doctor were on fire.................
we've been preparing very well all season.............
the shoot around today was strictly business...........
forced buie into 4 turnovers and zero assists......
we knew they would double team...........
we , again , made shots........
we are playing with very good spacing........
scoring over 100 and tonight 96 points goes a long way.......
Harmon with 20 tonight has been in the gym a lot ............
we are executing very well............
nobodies trying to be a hero............
everyone just wants to win above anything else.............
we are such a mature team that my staff asked me if I was ok because i wasn't yelling as much as usual.................lol
purdont will be another test for us as a top ten matchup.........................
Agreed, he played very well in those 4 minutes when the game was closer and absolutely deserved some tick in the 2nd half
Great, awesome game, now get ready to beat Purdue, gitter done.
https://bigten.org/boxscore.aspx?id...Ab6rpfXdK31CzCikkZUcfg4JGzApQpdw=&path=mbball
https://bigten.org/boxscore.aspx?id...Ab6rpfXdK31CzCikkZUcfg4JGzApQpdw=&path=mbball
2 pts, 2 boards, 1 assist, 0 turnovers, 1 foul in 4 mins. Nothing stood out when I was watching the game in real time either. I think coming up with any other reasons is kind of pointless. It's like he was just forgotten about during the entire 2nd half.
It doesn't take away from the dominating performance and I don't want to take away from that. We're all happy that they played as well as they did but Dainja isn't getting a fair shake. That's all I wanted to get across. This kid deserves PT but unfortunately, he's kind of stuck right now
Again, Andy Katz over the years has been a HUGE supporter of ours. He, like the rest of the college basketball world, is waiting to see what exactly we are without TSJ. Heck, the day he got suspended, how many people claimed ..."season over"? That was not an unreasonable first reaction. I think that the media is going to react similarly, though we'll no longer be behind NW.
Let's let things play out. If we go toe to toe with Purdue...you'll see public opinion sway back in our direction. To me, I think that his take was premature, but definitely not without some merit.
I agree, Dain seems like a good kid, but not sure he isn't getting a fair shake. He does some very good things at times. But he also has tendencies to get lost on D, turn the ball over, and not go hard for rebounds. You can't say the same things about CH and QG, who are his main competition for minutes, and are also very seasoned vets who have a ton of experience. I don't totally disagree that he probably needs a little more time, but like I said, BU rewards players who work hard (I am NOT saying Dain does not). You know, the other guys have a lot at stake as well with showing their talents for the next level, and more importantly, trying to get us to the top of the college game. We have a special opportunity with this group, and BU seems to be pulling all the right levers with a mature, experienced squad. I trust him this year more than I ever have. Good debate regardless, I appreciate it.
"when we saw them trying to guard Ty with Boo, we knew we were gonna back him underneath the basket all @#$#+$ night long" basically.
Brad and his staff deserve a ton of credit for the outstanding job they did hitting the portal, evaluating needs, talent, and character, and then putting this team together to form a superbly well oiled machine. None of our three portal additions got much national recognition, but all have far outperformed what the experts predicted. When I just checked, I was shocked to find that just prior to the season start, Quincy was rated the 80th best player from the portal, Marcus was at 118, and Justin at 154. Brad now looks like a genius. Well done.
Great performance! Incredible defensive tenacity. Northwestern has excellent guard play. Keep in mind, we probably won't shoot 63% from the field for another 20 years. However, we had excellent ball movement and had a lot of great looks. Also, the referees let us play a physical game on the defensive end. With that said, don't expect the shooting percentage to be anywhere near that high the rest of the year and expect to get a lot more ticky tack files on the road. Finally, I think we're seeing that this team is actually very well-rounded and has a lot of very good players. Go Illini!!!
Coleman might end up in the top 3 BU HS recruit of all time or better by the end of this year.
Dude has turned a corner over the last few games.
Dude has turned a corner over the last few games.
IlliniSaluki
- IL metro east burbs of St. Louis
Brad being honest on that final question. Yah with the way the system is that's why he kept the players out their till the very end.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
That’s our second 63% field goal shooting night of the year. The first was against FAU.
It's possible that the main difference this year is the competition and that they do best when they play through Coleman at the 5. I get it. Guerrier and Coleman deserve to play the major mins. But, I highly doubt that Dainja all of a sudden changed his mindset and practices worse than he did before. If he practices worse, then he wouldn't be playing at all against lower major teams either. I don't believe he has fallen off a cliff here. I just think he has become the forgotten man. Running Guerrier and Coleman into the ground when you're up by 30 pts. is simply not necessary. If a major injury happens, then best you bet, we will all be questioning Underwood. He and all of us are lucky that hasn't happened
But, yes, good spirited debate. Appreciate it
ginabackes00
CrazedUIFan
As far as Underwood playing others such as Dain…there are other factors that might come into play, such as game prep. We don’t know if he is valuing scouting and prep. I’m not saying he isn’t, but sometimes it’s not only about on court performance.
That was incredible. Guys were locked in from start to finish. Guys, we might still be a pretty dang good basketball team.
Interesting take. I just saw that too. I didn't really think about that aspect when it comes to margin of victory, offensive/defensive efficiency rankings, and how that impacts seeding.
Seeding used to be all about strength of schedule, strength of non-conference schedule, going and playing games on the road, winning road games, record against top 25/top 50 teams, conference records, etc... Landscape is changing these days with teams playing very few road games in non-conference and focusing more on the Multi Team Event tournaments to find their good resume building victories