Michigan State 79, Illinois 54 POSTGAME
I agree, I just hope you/we don't have to amend this saying to we only played 12 BIG games
I am glad they didn't quit and I didn't either. Watched my poor team until the end. A few quick notes:
- Only 6 turnovers. Wow. Impressive given everything else. Somehow this team doesn't turn the ball over.
- We are a jump shooting team and today things didn't fall.
- Mav needs to get an attitude. He had a lane to dunk it and he stopped and then fell away. C'mon big fella!!!
- Malcolm has to understand, again, that he is the leader. On one possession he passed up an open three (pass from Tate), drove towards Tate's defender and then passed to Tate who took a three. Can anyone guess what happened? Is that the shot we wanted? I would think the Math teacher has told the team who should shoot three point shots.
Well, on to the next one. I expect us to play herd against Purdue and to lose by 15. We are a young team, and Groce needs these guys to start to play more fluid. Ball movement was lacking tonight.
- Only 6 turnovers. Wow. Impressive given everything else. Somehow this team doesn't turn the ball over.
- We are a jump shooting team and today things didn't fall.
- Mav needs to get an attitude. He had a lane to dunk it and he stopped and then fell away. C'mon big fella!!!
- Malcolm has to understand, again, that he is the leader. On one possession he passed up an open three (pass from Tate), drove towards Tate's defender and then passed to Tate who took a three. Can anyone guess what happened? Is that the shot we wanted? I would think the Math teacher has told the team who should shoot three point shots.
Well, on to the next one. I expect us to play herd against Purdue and to lose by 15. We are a young team, and Groce needs these guys to start to play more fluid. Ball movement was lacking tonight.
Should every coach have to start their post game press conference after playing Illinois talking about 2 players who were known losses before the season started and two that are out indefinetly? Nunn is the player that was out that has been playing. That's who he is going to reference. Do you think they had anything in their pregame prep for TA, DP, MT or LB?
Mav was somewhat aggresive tonight on the offensive end but still missed 9 shots...Your defensive comment about him is spot on. He looks like he is wearing concrete boots.
sdfidaho
- Boise, Idaho
IlliniRon
Illini Basketball Fan Forever
- Ft Worth, Texas
Observations from watching the second half:
-I'm glad I missed the first half.
-We don't look very good on the offensive end or the defensive end against MSU.
-We might set some rebounding margin records this season.
-We look the same or better when we go to the bench with this group.
-Maverick Morgan's vertical jump is very challenged at best, easy to block.
-League wins should be celebrated by the Illini this season.
Go Illini! I love the Illini and Coach Groce, but it's hard to be optimistic about the rest of the season.
-I'm glad I missed the first half.
-We don't look very good on the offensive end or the defensive end against MSU.
-We might set some rebounding margin records this season.
-We look the same or better when we go to the bench with this group.
-Maverick Morgan's vertical jump is very challenged at best, easy to block.
-League wins should be celebrated by the Illini this season.
Go Illini! I love the Illini and Coach Groce, but it's hard to be optimistic about the rest of the season.
None of this was particularly relevant tonight with the outcome a forgone conclusion, but a couple things I noticed:
Our guards don't turn it over, but they don't pass well at all. Lewis is an average scoring threat for a point guard (at best, and obviously Tate is no threat whatsoever), but neither can pass worth a lick. I honestly thought Tate would develop into a solid PG for us, but sure seems like he has taken a step back. It could just as easily be the fact that they barely have anyone to pass to, but I can't recall one play today where I said to myself "nice pass" except one or two by Malcolm.
Mav and Finke need to go up stronger. I know Mav drew a ton of fouls today, which is definitely a step in the right direction, but they are both so tentative around the hoop.
Aaron Jordan and DJ Williams have a LONG way between where they are at now and being solid Big Ten players.
Michigan State can legitimately go 11-12 deep when healthy; talk about the polar opposite of where we are at...
Our guards don't turn it over, but they don't pass well at all. Lewis is an average scoring threat for a point guard (at best, and obviously Tate is no threat whatsoever), but neither can pass worth a lick. I honestly thought Tate would develop into a solid PG for us, but sure seems like he has taken a step back. It could just as easily be the fact that they barely have anyone to pass to, but I can't recall one play today where I said to myself "nice pass" except one or two by Malcolm.
Mav and Finke need to go up stronger. I know Mav drew a ton of fouls today, which is definitely a step in the right direction, but they are both so tentative around the hoop.
Aaron Jordan and DJ Williams have a LONG way between where they are at now and being solid Big Ten players.
Michigan State can legitimately go 11-12 deep when healthy; talk about the polar opposite of where we are at...
Sums up the game nicely, but the second half could have been missed, as well.
89illinigrad
- Chicago
Injuries have certainly derailed this season.
HoustonIllini
- Houston, TX
We will continue to suck the rest of the season, but I still love the Illini.
Groce sounds pretty frustrated on the radio right now. .... Following is paraphrased:
Guys not doing it the right way. Some of them need to change their attitude and do it the Illinois way. Not smart, poor execution, guys not communicating, too much individual play. Only thing he was remotely satisfied with was the defensive rebounding. Surprised that they executed so poorly since the tOSU game was so much better in this regard.
Guys not doing it the right way. Some of them need to change their attitude and do it the Illinois way. Not smart, poor execution, guys not communicating, too much individual play. Only thing he was remotely satisfied with was the defensive rebounding. Surprised that they executed so poorly since the tOSU game was so much better in this regard.
sdfidaho
- Boise, Idaho
sdfidaho
- Boise, Idaho
Well.... There's that
There is no purer hell than this.
The ball movement was terrible tonight especially compared to MSU. I am sure it was frustrating to coach.
This is what I saw too. Unfortunately that happens when you have three sometimes four freshman on the court together. Did Mav pass it out of the post once tonight by the way?
Before the season it was all "these guys are easy to coach," and now he's saying this. I get that there's fluff offseason pieces but come on, these are all his recruited players, I have no patience for comments like that.
I had to look up moral victory.
mor·al vic·to·ry
noun
a defeat that can be interpreted as a victory on moral terms, for example because the defeated party defended their principles.
Hmmm....we did? Or did we just get our !!! kicked?:hurl:
+1....let's just hope the fight doesn't go out of them.