Exactly and he had to play with a mask. We needed someone else to step up and it just didn't happen like it did many wins before in this season. Tough loss, but I'm already mentally on to next season.
Loyola Chicago 71, Illinois 58 Postgame
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Loyola deserved to win and were clearly the better team today- we never cut it to less than 6 so we were never really a threat to win the game
Hats off the Underwood and team for an incredible season that brought me and all Illini fans a lot of joy.
But I will forever be perplexed by how we played and the complete lack of intensity and adjustments the whole game. We’ve never been completely out of a game for the entire game like that all year. At some point you have to try something different and we never did. The players and fans deserved better- heck even Loyola deserved a better game- I will never understand that performance as long as I live
Hats off the Underwood and team for an incredible season that brought me and all Illini fans a lot of joy.
But I will forever be perplexed by how we played and the complete lack of intensity and adjustments the whole game. We’ve never been completely out of a game for the entire game like that all year. At some point you have to try something different and we never did. The players and fans deserved better- heck even Loyola deserved a better game- I will never understand that performance as long as I live
This is what I was wondering. It seemed like they had no idea what Loyola was going todo offensively or defensively. Like the coaches forgot to tell them and only concentrated pre-game plan on what we wanted to do offensively and defensively and Loyola would just bow to our will. And then we just couldn’t stay in front of guys.
Ayo’s play was unsettling, but bad games happen. To me what hurt was no injury or sense of immediacy by the team. Played like they thought they were better than Loyola rather than they were better and were out to show just that. Evidently Loyola didn’t get the memo.
Tough way to go out, but this team in general and Ayo during his career have given us plenty of great memories — and one bad one. With a little time I’ll remember more of the former than the latter. But still need some time. Great season guy.
Haven't seen it, but bet Underwood takes all the blame for losing. His high character will come out. "Gotta put our guys in a better position to succeed". "Hats off to Loyola". "They are elite at: ___ and ___." There really isn't much more to say.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
How many players from that 2018 UVa team came back for 2019?
Man the life of an Illini fan for the last 50 years. Brutal but love these guys. Thought it may be the tourney to compensate for old wounds. Sigh...
KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
- Chicago, IL
Miller was the best player on the team today.
Not really, we'll be hanging a BTT championship banner. 20 years from now it will still be there.
Ayo isn't coming back. Kofi might though.
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Outplayed & outcoached
IceCuban
- San Tan Valley, AZ
To me they were the only two trying to get a spark going. Just couldn't string anything together. Then Miller pulled...
1. Hats off to Loyola. They played about as close to a flawless game plan against us as ive seen
2. BU needs to have some counters......why not zone? why not some off ball screen action to get ayo going to the basket or to the elbow
3. Off game in general
My takes that many probably might disagree with.
4. Im still pretty proud of teh season and the one before. Watching this team play has been one of the few things ive looked forward to during the pandemic
5. Thanks Ayo for picking the state school and being a big part of getting us back to being on the map nationally. You made illinois basketball fun to watch again, and this game doesnt change my opinion of your contribution in my eyes
6. Time for Andre and Adam to carry the torch forward
2. BU needs to have some counters......why not zone? why not some off ball screen action to get ayo going to the basket or to the elbow
3. Off game in general
My takes that many probably might disagree with.
4. Im still pretty proud of teh season and the one before. Watching this team play has been one of the few things ive looked forward to during the pandemic
5. Thanks Ayo for picking the state school and being a big part of getting us back to being on the map nationally. You made illinois basketball fun to watch again, and this game doesnt change my opinion of your contribution in my eyes
6. Time for Andre and Adam to carry the torch forward
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Thought Curbello played hard but didn’t play well. Should be a learning experience.
I thought Curbelo diving on the floor with a mild hip pointer and diving to save an out of bounds flicked to DMW looked urgent.
Our players were doing what they thought was best but Porter had a great gameplan that defeated our strengths and we didn't adjust.
Zorak
- Naperville
This is an insane take. 21-7 without the BTT, and four guys aren't the whole team.
Adjustments?
* Press earlier and harder
* Zone mixed in for sure
* Utilizing our length and athleticism
My biggest fear was a slow start and Loyola gets confidence. Well that happened
* Press earlier and harder
* Zone mixed in for sure
* Utilizing our length and athleticism
My biggest fear was a slow start and Loyola gets confidence. Well that happened
Only another 300+ days to wait for it.
Wish I could like this more than once.
The weird thing is, I don't think we even practice zone. It seems like an afterthought when it comes to Underwood. Hopefully, we can start mixing it in more moving forward.
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Exactly. And honestly, I think by Illinois fans as well. They were prepared to be in the 89, 05 discussion. This was a once every 10-15 year team in terms of experience, talent, Kofi, etc. and they laid an egg. They’ll get the ‘01 treatment where people will need to explain to casual/new fans how good they were (usually in the context of talking about 89/05)
LOL my take on that guy's post included a lot more profanity. LOL
Good thing I kept it to myself!
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
I'm glad it wasn't close. Excuses won't fly. We crapped not only the bed, but the entire room.
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I can't believe what has happened to this conference this weekend. I can't really explain it. Was it the toll of everyone beating up on each other? Were we just not as good as we all thought? I don't know. It seems like stepping out of the conference that the teams in our conference didn't make the adjustments. I refuse to believe these teams are not that good.
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