Pregame: Illinois vs Iowa State, Thursday, March 28th, 9:09pm CT, TBS

New Creation · Mar 27, 2024

Just sharing some articles I read

Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois take on Iowa State's D in Sweet 16

BOSTON -- If Iowa State wants to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2000, it will have to find a way to get through Terrence Shannon Jr.

www.cbssports.com

Tate | Shannon is having the most dominant season in Illini history

Don't believe me? Well, here's how he stacks up among the other greats

www.news-gazette.com

MSN

www.msn.com

3 Keys to Victory for Iowa State to beat Illinois

The Iowa State’s men's basketball program is on to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The 2-seeded Cyclones of the East Region defeated South Dakota State and

bustingbrackets.com

"In order to beat the Illini, the Cyclones do not have to be something that they are not. They are not a team that takes a lot of threes. Iowa State takes just 18.7 threes per game, and they are ranked 306th nationally in that department. More important than shooting a lot of threes is the importance of shot selection. Iowa State’s offense is most efficient when they get the right shot and have 4-5 players in double figures at the end of the night. "

AZILL · Mar 27, 2024

zentrails said:
four years in the US Navy, while at sea, this was every day, every week 24/7 endless periods of no sleep at all

Haha, no doubt.... Pulling into port after an overnight watch..... Uhhh screw sleeping! I'm 1st in line when the gangplank is set and heading into town!!! Fun and exciting times for a young man who grew up in a small Midwestern town!

CMC · Mar 27, 2024

IlliniKat91 said:
God bless the Internet, guys, gals, and non-binary pals:

Illinois Fighting Illini Bars

Fox Sports Grill (Scottsdale); Scottsdale, AZ Double D's Sports Grille; 354 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030, (408) 395-6882 - doubleds.com Jones Restaurant & Lounge‎; 2400 Lombard St, San Francisco, CA 94123, (415) 440-2000 - jones-sf.com The Point After; 34331 Date Palm Drive, Cathedral...

sportsbars.fandom.com

I'm sure it's not a complete list, but I'm sure we have more than a few of us who could bring it up to date

Never heard of the only listing in Georgia, so I looked it up. There is a Yelp review from 14 years ago that says it is closed.

The Atlanta Illini Club usually seems to meet at Hudson Grill in Sandy Springs.

cjw1901 · Mar 27, 2024

The NCAA has just approved the use of these terms for Thursday's game:

Hawkins suggested a national title was a fitting "Coleman-Nation".
Dain spun left and "Dainja-gated" the opposing big man.
Terrence drove in and "Shannon-ized" three defenders.
Luke "Goode-fied" perimeter defenders with his 3s.
Ty soared in and "Rodger'd" over opposing rebounders.
Marcus backed him down and "Domask-ulated" him.
Quincy took off from the FT line and "Guerrier'd" the poor guy.
Justin drove to the elbow, pulled up, and "Harmon'd" his defender.
Dravyn came off the bench and "Gibbs-Lawhorn'd" us right back in the game.

Vinegarben · Mar 27, 2024

Illini are focused. They will start slowly against Cyclones but turn up the heat and take them down. Illini 84-Cyclones-79

Illini in OC · Mar 27, 2024

New Creation said:
Just sharing some articles I read

Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois take on Iowa State's D in Sweet 16

BOSTON -- If Iowa State wants to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2000, it will have to find a way to get through Terrence Shannon Jr.

www.cbssports.com

Tate | Shannon is having the most dominant season in Illini history

Don't believe me? Well, here's how he stacks up among the other greats

www.news-gazette.com

MSN

www.msn.com

3 Keys to Victory for Iowa State to beat Illinois

The Iowa State’s men's basketball program is on to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The 2-seeded Cyclones of the East Region defeated South Dakota State and

bustingbrackets.com

"In order to beat the Illini, the Cyclones do not have to be something that they are not. They are not a team that takes a lot of threes. Iowa State takes just 18.7 threes per game, and they are ranked 306th nationally in that department. More important than shooting a lot of threes is the importance of shot selection. Iowa State’s offense is most efficient when they get the right shot and have 4-5 players in double figures at the end of the night. "

Who the hell is this "Tate" guy?
Is he new? How could he *possibly* know (without Google, of course)?

RabidDawgClassic · Mar 27, 2024

New Creation said:
Just sharing some articles I read

Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois take on Iowa State's D in Sweet 16

BOSTON -- If Iowa State wants to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2000, it will have to find a way to get through Terrence Shannon Jr.

www.cbssports.com

Tate | Shannon is having the most dominant season in Illini history

Don't believe me? Well, here's how he stacks up among the other greats

www.news-gazette.com

MSN

www.msn.com

3 Keys to Victory for Iowa State to beat Illinois

The Iowa State’s men's basketball program is on to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The 2-seeded Cyclones of the East Region defeated South Dakota State and

bustingbrackets.com

"In order to beat the Illini, the Cyclones do not have to be something that they are not. They are not a team that takes a lot of threes. Iowa State takes just 18.7 threes per game, and they are ranked 306th nationally in that department. More important than shooting a lot of threes is the importance of shot selection. Iowa State’s offense is most efficient when they get the right shot and have 4-5 players in double figures at the end of the night. "

IlliniTime · Mar 27, 2024

Ilanoy said:
Illinois is taller by 3-4 inches at every single position.

That has to come into play early and often.

Iowa State has amazing defense, but it is difficult to overcome 3-4 inches at EVERY position.

My thoughts exactly. If a team likes to trap as much as Iowa St. does, it helps when you have tall players that can see over the trapping players and find open guys on the opposite side of the court. We should get a ton of open 3's in this game. Make a decent percentage of them and I like our chances.

texillwek · Mar 27, 2024

Ilanoy said:
Illinois is taller by 3-4 inches at every single position.

That has to come into play early and often.

Iowa State has amazing defense, but it is difficult to overcome 3-4 inches at EVERY position.

OrangeKrushGumDrop · Mar 27, 2024

Just took off to Boston. Will be in the building for this glorious game!

illini0440 · Mar 27, 2024

Ilanoy said:
Illinois is taller by 3-4 inches at every single position.

That has to come into play early and often.

Iowa State has amazing defense, but it is difficult to overcome 3-4 inches at EVERY position.

We only have the height advantage on Lipsey and Gilbert…..

Thompson · Mar 27, 2024

I’m seeing Hason Ward is from nearby Boston. Really don’t wanna hear about a magical return home story for him. Mumcilovich is expecting wide open mid range jumpers hope we vary looks and not let him get comfortable

USAFILLINI · Mar 27, 2024

IlliniTime said:
My thoughts exactly. If a team likes to trap as much as Iowa St. does, it helps when you have tall players that can see over the trapping players and find open guys on the opposite side of the court. We should get a ton of open 3's in this game. Make a decent percentage of them and I like our chances.

Kenpom has us the 8th ranked team in the nation for Avg Height, and 11th in experience and of course we are #1 in ADJO.

As of note as well, we have the #2 in AVG PG Height, and #2 in SG height in the nation

Think its safe to say we are the biggest +most experienced team they have faced, add that in with the the offense and I'm feeling pretty good

Big 12 Opponents that are near/ahead of us:
Kansas: #61 on ADJO
Tied in Height
#22 in experience

TCU: #45 in ADJO
#48 in Height
#3 in experience

Texas: #30 in ADJO
#258 in Height
#4 in experience

danielb927 · Mar 27, 2024

illini0440 said:
We only have the height advantage on Lipsey and Gilbert…..

Jones is also listed as 6-4, is that an under-report? That would give everyone but Harmon a 2"+ height advantage over him.

Edit: that's Curtis Jones, not Robert (one of their bigs).

illini0440 · Mar 27, 2024

danielb927 said:
Jones is also listed as 6-4, is that an under-report? That would give everyone but Harmon a 2"+ height advantage over him.

Edit: that's Curtis Jones, not Robert (one of their bigs).

Was going with their starters.

CentralILLini · Mar 27, 2024

Ty’s on ball perimeter defense hasn’t been talked about enough. Dude has been locked in and gives all kinds of fits to guards 6’3” and under.. Ty and TJ both 6’6” with their elite lateral movement is tough.

Luke better be ready to catch and shoot. I think he’s going to find himself with some wide open looks tomorrow.

Fighter of the Nightman · Mar 27, 2024

I will first say that past history only means so much here, and Thursday will likely be a war with either team capable of winning. However, RE: That post that the top defense is 5-4 vs. the top offense, I wanted to look into those matchups:

TIMES THE TOP OFFENSE WON
2022-23: #9 Arizona 75, #6 Tennessee 70 in Tucson, AZ
2015-16: Notre Dame 71, #13 Louisville 66 in South Bend, IN
2015-16: Duke 72, #13 Louisville 65 in Durham, NC
2014-15: #3 Wisconsin 71, #1 Kentucky 64 in Indianapolis, IN (Final Four)

TIMES THE TOP DEFENSE WON
2022-23: #11 Texas 93, #2 Gonzaga 74 in Austin, TX
2019-20: #2 Kentucky 69, #1 Michigan State 62 in New York, NY (first game of season)
2018-19: #9 Texas Tech 75, #4 Gonzaga 69 in Anaheim, CA (Elite Eight)
2015-16: #2 Kentucky 74, #5 Duke 63 in Chicago, IL
2012-13: #2 Louisville 82, #10 Michigan 76 in Atlanta, GA (National Championship)

Not TOO many takeaways here, but it is still interesting.
- It at least has to be noted that 3 of the 5 wins for the top defense took place in NOVEMBER of those years, with Kentucky over MSU in 2019-20 literally being the first game. I have to question how refined the rankings are by that point.
- The top offense usually actually did NOT get wins by scoring a bunch of points on the top defenses ... we might not want to rely on a shootout!
- Conversely, the top defenses scored 74 or more points in 4 of the 5 wins. Seems kind of paradoxical.
- 3 of the 4 wins for the top offenses came at home, where teams generally shoot better. However, again, the offenses were not scoring that many points so it was hardly a case of a rare offensive explosion bolstered by the home court advantage.
- There are 3 NCAA Tournament games on that list. The top offense won 71-64 in the Final Four. The top defense won 75-69 in the Elite Eight and 82-76 in the National Championship. Take that FWIW!

Again, doesn't really tell us much (at least IMO), but it's notable that all of these games were relatively close except for a Champions Classic game in 2015-16 and a rare beatdown of Gonzaga last year by Texas.

IlliniKat91 · Mar 27, 2024

CMC said:
Never heard of the only listing in Georgia, so I looked it up. There is a Yelp review from 14 years ago that says it is closed.

The Atlanta Illini Club usually seems to meet at Hudson Grill in Sandy Springs.

Time to update that list then. It's a wiki, so anyone should be able to do it.

Brickhouse at Wrigley needs to be added to the list, too, since they're an official Illini bar.

Edit: Someone beat me to it (

) and added Finley Dunne's. I edited the GA and AZ listings, too. It isn't an up to date list, but it could be a cool Loyalty side project if people add/update it with their favorite Illini bars. That way when any of us are out of town for a game, we know where we can go.

You don't need an account to edit. You make the changes and leave a note about what you changed and it's approved later, for those who are curious.

Chad Fleck · Mar 27, 2024

Just to pump you up for the match-up.

travelin' man · Mar 27, 2024

Battle89 said:
The Freudian slip really shows us what you think of him

"arsed" is a British slang term for wasting time. However I'm sure you're still correct about his state of mind.

HensonHall71 · Mar 27, 2024

FoundersClub said:
This was a fun breakdown and prediction

Those guys do a good job of just discussing the game like intelligent fans do- not too technical but they know an impressive amount about every team in the big ten

I think they are underselling TSJ in the half court though, the days of him just standing in a corner while MD does his thing in the half court have been long gone in this 6 game stretch post the PU loss

TSJ is hitting open threes, driving to the hoop and creating his own shot in the half court

21ChampaignSt · Mar 27, 2024

Fighter of the Nightman said:
I will first say that past history only means so much here, and Thursday will likely be a war with either team capable of winning. However, RE: That post that the top defense is 5-4 vs. the top offense, I wanted to look into those matchups:

TIMES THE TOP OFFENSE WON
2022-23: #9 Arizona 75, #6 Tennessee 70 in Tucson, AZ
2015-16: Notre Dame 71, #13 Louisville 66 in South Bend, IN
2015-16: Duke 72, #13 Louisville 65 in Durham, NC
2014-15: #3 Wisconsin 71, #1 Kentucky 64 in Indianapolis, IN (Final Four)

TIMES THE TOP DEFENSE WON
2022-23: #11 Texas 93, #2 Gonzaga 74 in Austin, TX
2019-20: #2 Kentucky 69, #1 Michigan State 62 in New York, NY (first game of season)
2018-19: #9 Texas Tech 75, #4 Gonzaga 69 in Anaheim, CA (Elite Eight)
2015-16: #2 Kentucky 74, #5 Duke 63 in Chicago, IL
2012-13: #2 Louisville 82, #10 Michigan 76 in Atlanta, GA (National Championship)

Not TOO many takeaways here, but it is still interesting.
- It at least has to be noted that 3 of the 5 wins for the top defense took place in NOVEMBER of those years, with Kentucky over MSU in 2019-20 literally being the first game. I have to question how refined the rankings are by that point.
- The top offense usually actually did NOT get wins by scoring a bunch of points on the top defenses ... we might not want to rely on a shootout!
- Conversely, the top defenses scored 74 or more points in 4 of the 5 wins. Seems kind of paradoxical.
- 3 of the 4 wins for the top offenses came at home, where teams generally shoot better. However, again, the offenses were not scoring that many points so it was hardly a case of a rare offensive explosion bolstered by the home court advantage.
- There are 3 NCAA Tournament games on that list. The top offense won 71-64 in the Final Four. The top defense won 75-69 in the Elite Eight and 82-76 in the National Championship. Take that FWIW!

Again, doesn't really tell us much (at least IMO), but it's notable that all of these games were relatively close except for a Champions Classic game in 2015-16 and a rare beatdown of Gonzaga last year by Texas.

Top defenses 4-1 on neutral courts

IllGuardU · Mar 27, 2024

illini0440 said:
Illinois vs. Iowa State

Matchups: The 3 of Gilbert, Lipsey and Momcilovic will be guarded by TJ, Ty, or Domask. If Dain is in with Coleman then you could see Coleman on Momcilovic. Quincy on Tre King(Thrives on getting loose balls).

They play their best defense(in terms of steals) in ball screen actions(luckily we don't run a ton).
Avoid over dribbling into the help.
We have to avoid throwing it into the corner on BLOBS and if they full court us.
They will detach from shooters randomly...there is no rhyme or reason to how they defend really in terms of normal principles. We have to reverse it and you will see skip passes from us.
When Marcus gets in on the wing or elbow they will send the low man on a double(full reversals will be key here)
Get out and run!!! In transition and after makes! Again don't attack the help though, find the weak spot.
We can't detach from Ward he loves OREB and putbacks.
They crash the offensive boards HARD. Rebound like we can and we will be alright and win the 50-50 balls!

Nothing earth shattering but this is some of what Brad will tell the guys.

All their extra activity should wear them down in the second half, unless they’re in better condition than us. Oh yeah, they don’t have Fletch

mhuml32 · Mar 27, 2024

Fighter of the Nightman said:
2014-15: #3 Wisconsin 71, #1 Kentucky 64 in Indianapolis, IN (Final Four)

- There are 3 NCAA Tournament games on that list. The top offense won 71-64 in the Final Four. The top defense won 75-69 in the Elite Eight and 82-76 in the National Championship. Take that FWIW!

#1 - Wisconsin v Kentucky games is one of the best tourney games in recent history.

#2 - I wouldn't interpret too many things from those scores in relation to expectations for this game because the current era of bball is so different from a possession/efficiency standpoint than even 4-5 years ago. Offensive efficiency is about points per possession. Bo Ryan era Wisconsin was much more focused on quality possessions instead of quantity, which is why they consistently scored high on offensive efficiency even though they didn't get close to the national leaders in points scored. Illinois is currently averaging 10 more shots/game than that 2015 Wisconsin team. There are similar comparison issues when looking at 2024 Iowa State to 2015 Kentucky; the Wildcats only allowed 54.3 ppg (!), while Iowa State is allowing 61.3 ppg. These differences are reflected in the OU; 2015 UK-UW had an over/under of 130. Over/under for Illinois - Iowa State is 146.5.

TheGMan · Mar 27, 2024

IlliniKat91 said:
God bless the Internet, guys, gals, and non-binary pals:

Illinois Fighting Illini Bars

Fox Sports Grill (Scottsdale); Scottsdale, AZ Double D's Sports Grille; 354 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030, (408) 395-6882 - doubleds.com Jones Restaurant & Lounge‎; 2400 Lombard St, San Francisco, CA 94123, (415) 440-2000 - jones-sf.com The Point After; 34331 Date Palm Drive, Cathedral...

sportsbars.fandom.com

I'm sure it's not a complete list, but I'm sure we have more than a few of us who could bring it up to date

Tell me you watch J. Kenji Lopez-Alt without telling me you watch J. Kenji Lopez-Alt.

Pregame: Illinois vs Iowa State, Thursday, March 28th, 9:09pm CT, TBS

In. The. Alley.

🔶🔹🔸🔷

Orange Krush Class of 2013