Maryland 88, Illinois 65 Postgame
- Status
Well, when you double and trap, you have to make sure the guy you're bringing can get back and close out on a three. Easier said than done.
i also wouldn't say that he's fighting down there. He gets bumped once and slaps. He put himself on the bench with soft plays.
He needs to get a LOT stronger.
I 100% agree Hamer needs to find another employer. However how about the players taking ownership of not playing a physical brand of defense. How about coming out of the gate and sit their as* down and square up the ball and out of the lane. How about hitting someone in their snot box once on a rebound rather than allowing themselves to be pushed out of rebounding position. How about 1 time jam a ball handler and not let him come off a ball screen.
The Sprouting Divot
Invisible and Bulletproof
- Miracle Mile
Yep. You could tell we were going to lose by the 18:00 mark of the first half.
There is no way, I believe, that Illinois will be a 4/5 seed. I'd be very surprised. I know committee looks at the entire season and may consider Illinois's illnesses and injuries, but after tonight, I highly doubt the 4/5 seed goes to Da Beloved.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
After seeing his interview, he needs to let Fletch get him Fletched this Summer!
NASchamp
- Atlanta
I hate Maryland. They are such a cocky team, with Rice and Queen being just the worst. And it wouldn’t be Illinois if we didn’t let a player go nuclear on us.
That being said, we came out a completely different team from yesterday. Those believing the “we were just sick all year” story, what do you say to this game? The difference between these two games on back-to-back nights is the definition of poor coaching….
Ball movement was bad. Shot selection bad. Couldn’t take care of the ball. Where did that go from last night?
Defense was atrocious yet again. How do we continue getting worse?!
Not a good way to go into the NCAA Tournament…
And Tomi has to be smarter than that on defense. He is worth so much to this team. He can’t have dumb fouls like that.
That being said, we came out a completely different team from yesterday. Those believing the “we were just sick all year” story, what do you say to this game? The difference between these two games on back-to-back nights is the definition of poor coaching….
Ball movement was bad. Shot selection bad. Couldn’t take care of the ball. Where did that go from last night?
Defense was atrocious yet again. How do we continue getting worse?!
Not a good way to go into the NCAA Tournament…
And Tomi has to be smarter than that on defense. He is worth so much to this team. He can’t have dumb fouls like that.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
And Morez, when you’re within 5 feet of the rim………DUNK IT AS HARD AS YOU CAN!!!!
In fairness I think he’s down about 15 lbs due to various sicknesses. Will sap anyone of their strength. Thought he was more physical and mobile early in the year pre injuries/illnesses.
sdfidaho
- Boise, Idaho
One of them isn’t supposed to be turnovers
I totally agree with you, and Mr. gavel needs to go.
Having typed that, and I understand if you don't wish to criticize any specific player, but how much does it fall on the players, too? Just curious. I don't have the basketball acumen like you. I guess I could comment on the lack of effort at times.
What I've been noticing as well is that whenever the opposing team is coming downhill on a fastbreak-type deal, I see some Illinois defenders not picking them up near the FT line. They veer off, giving a straight shot to the basket. KJ's done it a couple of times. Worried of contact? Don't want to get a foul?
So damn true!
sdfidaho
- Boise, Idaho
WAY worse!
100% correct. Literally any serviceable big would have served an exponentially greater purpose to this team.
He's definitely gone next year. I am no insider, but I'd be shocked if he was here next year. I'd hope Elite programs despise mediocrity and God-awful defense.
Total *** whooping.
Kind of a weird box score vs how I thought the game went, as we actually outrebounded them by 9 and got 40% of our misses back. I realize their starters didn’t play the last 10-12 minutes, but I didn’t think we dominated the glass against their bench so much to flip what felt like total domination into plus 9.
Which means it was the 17 turnovers that lost us the game, many of which I thought were unforced and led to run outs and easy baskets. Turnovers plus hot shooting for them and cold shooting for us (missed some open 3’s, had several layups spin out), and there’s your 30 pieces.
As others have said, biggest disappointment is we seemed to come out scared and tentative which played right into Marylands hands and then we let it snowball.
And one last thought about what really hurt us. They were really keying on our ball handlers, making it hard for them to get downhill and score. But dump downs were open for Morez all night. Unfortunately Morez just didn’t quite have the timing/wind/lift to consistently finish down low. There were at least 3-4 plays in the first half where I said “pre-injury that’s a dunk.” Hopefully he’s closer to 100% by next week. And that’s probably my biggest positive from tonight is we got Morez a 2 game tuneup.
Still think we can go on a run. We played 4 games in a row without a clunker, which I feel like is about as long a streak as we’ve had. Even pre injury/illness, about every third game we would have a game like this where we shot 20% from 3 and turned it over 15 times. If we play like we did the prior 4 games we absolutely can make a S16, but alot will depend on our draw.
But man I hate getting punked by those guys. Ugly game.
Kind of a weird box score vs how I thought the game went, as we actually outrebounded them by 9 and got 40% of our misses back. I realize their starters didn’t play the last 10-12 minutes, but I didn’t think we dominated the glass against their bench so much to flip what felt like total domination into plus 9.
Which means it was the 17 turnovers that lost us the game, many of which I thought were unforced and led to run outs and easy baskets. Turnovers plus hot shooting for them and cold shooting for us (missed some open 3’s, had several layups spin out), and there’s your 30 pieces.
As others have said, biggest disappointment is we seemed to come out scared and tentative which played right into Marylands hands and then we let it snowball.
And one last thought about what really hurt us. They were really keying on our ball handlers, making it hard for them to get downhill and score. But dump downs were open for Morez all night. Unfortunately Morez just didn’t quite have the timing/wind/lift to consistently finish down low. There were at least 3-4 plays in the first half where I said “pre-injury that’s a dunk.” Hopefully he’s closer to 100% by next week. And that’s probably my biggest positive from tonight is we got Morez a 2 game tuneup.
Still think we can go on a run. We played 4 games in a row without a clunker, which I feel like is about as long a streak as we’ve had. Even pre injury/illness, about every third game we would have a game like this where we shot 20% from 3 and turned it over 15 times. If we play like we did the prior 4 games we absolutely can make a S16, but alot will depend on our draw.
But man I hate getting punked by those guys. Ugly game.
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Captain 14
- The Last Best Place
Play a game like they did last night and then come out and shoot around and run drills for an hour tonight right before the game..that might affect your energy level. But what do I know...
A less than 24 hour turnaround between games against 2 vastly different teams. Coupled with the fact that even though we had no one out we still have only had a couple games with a full roster. I doubt everyone, especially Ivisic, is at 100%. This week off SHOULD do wonders for our NCAA prep. Been telling my friends here locally I wanted to win the 1st B1G matchup and then lose the 2nd solely to lock the 6th seed and then have some time to rest, recoup, and practice for the NCAA tournament. I'm sure I've said it here a time or 2 as well. Having as many sick days as this team has had I'm not surprised by losing today, didn't think it'd be that bad though. But here we are! I think this is the ideal way for things to have gone down to set us up for our best chance to succeed moving forward.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
My brother, I can count on you to find the pony buried within the absolute mountain of s#!t we saw this evening.
Yes^3. Throwbacks every game from now on. And in the off season get on that script orange road kit.
I loathe the 1LL1NO1S font with every fiber of my being.
Agree with everything- and as an illustration of that inability to make in-game changes before things get out of control- why wait until down 19 in the first half to call a timeout!!
sacraig
- The desert
- Status