When Kofi is holding on to passes and scores, that helps open up that, plus Curbelo was more laying up or passing down, didn't see many wing passes.
Missouri 81, Illinois 78 Postgame
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I will be shocked if Illinois gets 4 years out of Ayo. I suppose it is possible he could pull a Cassius Winston. I just don't see him having a better chance of being drafted as a Senior, than as a Junior. He is what he is. So it really depends on when he wants to start his pro career. With Kofi, I haven't seen any improvement from last year, and with him being old for his grade I also don't see him back. I think his growth curve has flattened out, and its the same issue with him. He's likely not getting drafted no matter when he comes out, so then it comes down to when he wants to start his pro career. Big men have shorter careers in general, and given his age, i think he's gone too even if he's not drafted. He's gotta start his pro career at some level. Giorgi will have the same questions after the season, whether he wants to start his pro career in Europe now, or get his degree from illinois
Better luck next time. Maybe coach can find a way to motivate the team to play hard. I mean holding on to the #6 spot and going against 3 players that spurned U of I is not much motivation. s/
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I trust Ayo. He was awesome. Without him we lose by 20. He put everything on his back and gave us a chance. Who else would you want with the ball during the last 3 minutes? He had no one to pass to who I trusted to do anything. Did you see how the others were playing tonight?? Curbello played well. But if you are going to criticize anyone, skip those two. Kofi should have dominated the paint. Just catch a ball Kofi! And everyone one else should make sure they get of the bus, stop watching Ayo and try to actually contribute to the game. Yes, the refs sucked, but this game was on us.
I agree. Ayo was fantastic. Just because he didn't have a completely 100% perfect game doesn't mean it was his fault we lost. We would have lost by 20 without him. He emptied his tank tonight. That's a kid that should hold his head high. The rest of the team around Ayo/Curbelo just need to be tougher. And Kofi needs better hands. Frazier needs his killer instinct back. He was a killer his freshman year. Now, he strikes me as soft.
Agree. Ayo will probably be drafted and spend some time in the NBA. Kofi will never make it there. He will, however, play internationally. Kofi doesn't have a jump shot or a hook shot. Mostly he is one dimensional... dunking and put backs.
Ayo has got a lot better, but he still hasn't proven he can consistently hit the 3 which was his biggest feedback. Next year's draft is better than this past years, so I'm not sure what to think. Reminds me of Frank Williams situation and hoping for a deep tourney run and can make it in as a late first.
Your wrong....Ayo is a totally different player . We have someone that is going to be an elite PG and much better in just a few weeks than he is now. He has improved each game. These guys didnt have an off season together. We could gave used a guy like Feliz yonight but AC will make others better the more he plays. Most of all he can get Kofi and others shots. This loss sucks but i wss more encouraged tonight in the long run than i am by the win against a sub par Duke team. If we limit TOs then Ayo and AC will help make ithers so much better and our team hard to stop. Thats what happenned in 05
Ayo wss amazing for 38 minutes but theat wasnt the case the last couple minutes abd tvat wont happen much. If AC keeps improving we will be a tough tough out in March. How many times has MSU done exactly that.
We are a better tesm than Mizzou . Jutst not
Tonight it happens
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Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
Proving fans can rationalize anything.
The sky isn’t falling. We have talent and can be very good - top 10 good. We just have to consistently understand how to use all the talent and not settle for watching Ayo do it all. Coach will teach it and get it balanced within a couple more games. This may actually be the best thing that happens to us. That 5 minute stretch was so bad, they’ll have to reflect, and listen to coach.
Deleted member 747760
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We should beat mizzou. We didn’t. We almost lost to Ohio U. We gonna hang our hat on Duke? Worst Duke team in 3 decades. Baylor exposed us. Iowa is ELITE. Baylor destroyed us... everyone has orange colored glasses on but sweet 16 is a pipe dream at this point
illiniswish09
- Northwest Suburbs
Why do we have to make takes like this? “Yep. That’s it. 4 or 5 seed after the fifth game of the season. Won’t go to the final four. Program moving in a solid direction. See ya next year.” Yes tonight was very frustrating but chill tf out Christ
Deleted member 747277
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Top 10 teams don’t have moments of reckoning with every loss. Baylor was a good punch in the mouth. Losing to Mizzou like this? Good punch in the mouth. Getting killed by Iowa. Nice punch to wake us up. Wisconsin beating us by 5. Well we’ll learn from it...it’s just a punch in the mouth. Northwestern punched us in the mouth tonight, but it’ll wake us up (again).
things like this shouldn’t be happening THIS year. This is supposed to be the year.
This place after a win: "We're a Final Four team baby. I'd take this team over the 05 and 89 teams, easily. No question about it."
This place after a loss: "Oh no we suck. We wouldn't even be competitive against SIU Edwardsville. That's how far we've fallen."
Still a lot of season left. Do you guys remember last year when we were coming off an awful loss to a bad Miami team at home? Then the heartbreaking collapse against Maryland? Hell, I recall many of us were about ready to jettison Underwood and staff. We were in a worse position last year, turned it around and would have definitely been a tourney team had it not been for the pandemic.
Never thought I'd quote Aaron Rodgers of all people but in his exact words...
R-E-L-A-X.
Sit back and enjoy the ride.
This place after a loss: "Oh no we suck. We wouldn't even be competitive against SIU Edwardsville. That's how far we've fallen."
Still a lot of season left. Do you guys remember last year when we were coming off an awful loss to a bad Miami team at home? Then the heartbreaking collapse against Maryland? Hell, I recall many of us were about ready to jettison Underwood and staff. We were in a worse position last year, turned it around and would have definitely been a tourney team had it not been for the pandemic.
Never thought I'd quote Aaron Rodgers of all people but in his exact words...
R-E-L-A-X.
Sit back and enjoy the ride.
Cook
- Richmond, VA
Love Curbelo, but several times in the first half it's like he willfully refused to throw it to Ayo open on the wing and instead forced a drive, some ended well too many others ended with unnecessary TOs, bad shot attempts
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Well when the coach is going to you over and over and youve played 38 minutes, this can happen. BU ran the same action like 20 plays down the stretch with a tired player and the other team was ready for it. I just have a hard time bashing a guy going for 36 on 65% shooting bc he crumbled down the stretch, which likely was due to fatigue.
BU has to make adjustments. Dont ride ayo into the ground a full half and expect him to deliver on predictable plays when things tighten up at the end.
Huh? Hes above 40% from 3 on the year on 3-4 attempts per game.
Um, at 4:05, Kofi doesn't catch a feed from Curbelo and then Ayo get's called for charge, could have been called a block very easily.
At 3:46 Kofi is standing out of bounds when we get a chance for a rebound. Mizzou ball.
At 3:20 Ayo scores on contested layup. 76-76
3:09 Curbello gets a bogus foul called, they make 2 free throws. 76-78
2:57 Demonte misses wide open 3
2:25 Ayo is fouled on layup but no call, ball hits side of backboard.
1:54 Kofi strips Tilman who fouls out. 76-78 still
1:30 Ayo turnover on inbound play. Ugh.
1:12 Mizzou travel call, our ball
1:07 Mizzou flop, Ayo called for charge. Could have easily been called block. Easily. Had arm bent as coached.
:54 Mizzou make highly contested shot in lane vs Curbello and Ayo. Nice play, ugh. 80-76
:41 TERRIBLE FLAGRANT CALL against Kofi. Just Terrible! Somehow bucket counts?? 78-80
:41 Mizzou makes 1 free throw. 81-78, Mizzou ball
:10 Illinois shuts down Mizzou and clock violation!
2 minute break for clock evaluation, clock reset from 9.9 to 10.9
Ayo is not even breathing hard. Take a bad shot on the run with 3 seconds left, Illinoi fouls to stop clock.
:03, Mizzou misses FT and Ayo launches 3/4 court shot that had a legit chance.
This is not Ayo's fault. If the Refs just called one of the 3 bad calls differently, lot's change. If Demonte hits his uncontested, wide open 3, we are up. If any of our other players played just a little better throughout this game, different outcome. Watch the last 5 minutes again and then try to blame this on Ayo. No way.
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Imagine if we played mediocre, slow and tight and just made 80% of our free throws. That's a W. I would bet four figures that Bradley has these guys shooting 1000 free throws every day for a couple weeks as of tomorrow. That was prison ball today. Mizzou deserved the win (with the exception of that AWFUL flop at the end that cost us the game - that was Gonzo at his worst right there).
At the same time, as a fan you want to see results, especially in a game against a bitter rival. I'm not concerned that this team is going to drop every game the rest of this season...but it sucks that they dropped this game and I'm a little tired of being told it's ok to lose games like this because the team will come back stronger. We just lost our 3rd in a row against this Mizzou team. They plays us hard, sure, but if we're being honest their talent level would never contend for the B1G title we're all hoping for. Mizzou would be a middle of the pack B1G team. That's a good team, don't get me wrong, but we do aspire to win this conference, don't we?
Missed free throws
Sloppy ball handling
Kofi didn’t go strong to the basket a number of times and missed easy ones because of it
Where was Miller tonight? Where has Grandison been this season? Thought he was supposed to be our best athlete or something?
Curbelo....love the fire he plays with....has to understand the situation a little more and not hit the gas so much
Phantom flagrant. Would love an explanation there.
Sloppy ball handling
Kofi didn’t go strong to the basket a number of times and missed easy ones because of it
Where was Miller tonight? Where has Grandison been this season? Thought he was supposed to be our best athlete or something?
Curbelo....love the fire he plays with....has to understand the situation a little more and not hit the gas so much
Phantom flagrant. Would love an explanation there.
Lighten up Francis.
Oh, and it definitely feels like the Smith, Tilmon, Pickett trio live rent free in our guys heads. You can tell this game, for some on our team, is more like the “get back at those guys” show instead of just playing the game and beating them, soundly.
I said it before but I stand by it - this team has a high floor and a high ceiling. Mizzou is good. They will surely be ranked much of this year. Speaking purely in terms of resume, this likely will not be a bad loss. We played like garbage, beat ourselves at the stripe and still nearly stole this thing at their place. We’re going to improve and be very good as the season goes on.
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