The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And if I ever come across kelly pfeifer in the wild, it is on SIGHT.
Two of the most outrageous techs ever called, both in Bloomington. Absolute coward.
Illinois vs Penn, Thursday, November 5th, 7:30pm CT, FS1
Two of the most outrageous techs ever called, both in Bloomington. Absolute coward.
Is that Ming the Mirkless?? We need him back SOON!!
That stare down is honestly one of the funniest things I've seen in my entire life. Instant classic...
Zorak
- Naperville
What do I get when it's a 30-point game in the second half?
3-guard line up with QC, Brown, and Vaaks. Dre and Tomi up front.
Confirmed rotational players: Z, Lincoln (defensive sub / breather for the starting guards), Zens (given he's a like for like swap with Jake), Jakstys (for additional rim protection and rebounding while Mirk is out)
Back of the rotation light minutes: Morillo and Landon
I think this will be our starters from this point onwards till Mirk and Jake return. Dre slides over to the 3 once Mirk is back. Brown and Vaaks fight for starting spot vs. first off bench. Jake off the bench for the rest of the season if/when healthy.
Confirmed rotational players: Z, Lincoln (defensive sub / breather for the starting guards), Zens (given he's a like for like swap with Jake), Jakstys (for additional rim protection and rebounding while Mirk is out)
Back of the rotation light minutes: Morillo and Landon
I think this will be our starters from this point onwards till Mirk and Jake return. Dre slides over to the 3 once Mirk is back. Brown and Vaaks fight for starting spot vs. first off bench. Jake off the bench for the rest of the season if/when healthy.
I'm going to hope/pray that Brad is just saving wear and tear on the twins for the big games. I had really hoped to see Z 2.0 this season. We're seeing regression so far. Solitary bright spot being 5 rebs (3 offensive) in 10min of tick. Hope that's in full effect come Texas Tech next week with an assist or two to a cutter or spot up 3pt shooter.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
We’re gonna struggle guarding the 4 with that lineup but it is what it is.
Is he, though?
I reckon we go:
C T Ivisic
F Zens
F Stojokovic
G Coleman
G Brown
Bench:
Z
Vaaks
JJ
Morillo
Williams
Davis
C T Ivisic
F Zens
F Stojokovic
G Coleman
G Brown
Bench:
Z
Vaaks
JJ
Morillo
Williams
Davis
Also, ZI looked very lethargic yesterday. Is he 100%?
Illinois will have no problems scoring.
Last year, Illinois had the most efficient offense in the country by points per possession, and our single most efficient output was 1.545 points per possession against Penn.
We just laid 1.591 against FDU (which tops any single performance from last season).
G:Tomi
G:Vaaks
G: Big Z
F:Blake
C: Coleman
G:Vaaks
G: Big Z
F:Blake
C: Coleman
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
It's gonna be a helluva ride.
blackdog
- Champaign
Almost nobody plays 2 bigs anymore. 1 big, and the other 4 are some combo of wings and guards.
In 2025-2026?these teams played 2 bigs regularly
Florida
Michigan
Arizona
Duke
Purdue
I think that’s some pretty good teams
Yes, this is not going to be a runaway. The top of the Ivy League has some pretty fair teams and Penn is one of them. We better be ready to play. This is not a game to just feel like we can flip a lineup out there and it'll be a runaway. We still have games like that on our schedule, this just isn't one of them.
A sigh of relief. This is not going to be beating. The great thing about how we play is that if we're hitting the three, we can beat anyone. If we're not and the opponent has the ability to slow things down and be methodical..... it'll get uncomfortable. Hoisting up 50 threes can't be the norm.
blackdog
- Champaign
We can play 2 bigs if we need to, especially once Mirk comes back. Most teams are not going to be able to play 2 guys who are effective inside at the same time.
It definitely was a beating in the NCAA tournament.
We averaged 31 3s a game last year on 63 shots a game…..we put up 83 shot attempts last night
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Not only that, but because we rebound half the 3’s we take, we can have an incredibly efficient offense with only average 3 point shooting.
This screenshot is taken from Robert’s postgame article:
That’s two Illinois possessions. In those two possessions, we had 4 missed 3’s and a turnover. Yet we still scored 1.0 PPP, which is average. So in two possessions, we shot 0% from 3, 20% from the field, and had a 50% turnover rate. Yet our offense was still average. Because we had 4 offensive rebounds on 4 missed 3’s.
Margins
It's the same thing every year. We play a terrible team. Everyone's inclination is to say "you can't learn a single thing from this game." And then margins raise their hand and whisper "I can maybe inform you of a few things?" Listen to the margins. Look,
www.illiniboard.com
Against FDU, we shot 37.3% from 3, which is good, not great. But we scored 1.6 PPP, which is likely the most efficient offensive performance in Illinois basketball history. Because we had more offensive rebounds than FDU had defensive rebounds along with just 7 turnovers on 75 possessions.
We could have missed 100% of the 3’s we took and still would have won the game by 18.
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Anyone know what is wrong with Lincoln and how soon he might return to the court?