Northwestern 70, Illinois 66 OT Postgame

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#180      
Fighter of the Nightman
Incredibly depressing Uber-back-to-the-city postgame rant thoughts:

1. Props to NU student section. They’re always surprisingly good and honestly more (physically) active than Orange Krush. Guess it’s that dorky energy, lol.
2. Major props to Chicago Area Illini fans. As I posted in the game thread, non-student crowd had to be no less than 70% Illini fans. The entire upper section was pretty much ours. I’d genuinely hate that if I were an NU player for my home games, but obviously it fired them up.
3. Part of me wants to accept that “we are young” and just enjoy the ride … but it’s so depressing having LITERALLY zero idea which of these young guys will stick around. To endure the hiccups with the young guys, you need the optimism (and assurance) that you’ll see them all in a couple years kicking a$$. I HOPE I do, but let’s not pretend it’s as easy to shrug off “growing pains” losses as it used to be pre-NIL and transfer portal. Because it’s not.
4. Great place to watch a game! If NU didn’t have a crap history, that would be a much more iconic venue. There really isn’t a bad seat in that place. With that said, it’s not as loud as you’d expect given how closed in it is.
5. NU students that I interacted with were surprisingly - errr - dumb? compared to what I was expecting. 🤣 For being such a phenomenal school, I was shocked what meatheads many of them sounded like in the crowds exiting the arena. “How far is Champaign?! I bet it’s FAR! You guys gotta drive FAR, hope you’re not intoxicated, HAHA.” Bro, you think 70% of your home arena was filled with solely Illini fans who drove multiple hours? It was a pro-Illini crowd because we have way more fans than you in your backyard.
6. At the end of the day, you can’t excuse away that loss. We folded, we were soft when it counted and we didn’t lose to some home team that was on fire and playing in some hostile environment. We just choked, period. We’ll be fine, but … damn. That was rough.
7. I liked these NU uniforms, and while I used to think their gothic gimmick was kind of lame … it’s won me over.
 
#181      
PasadenaIllini
WolfpackIllini said:
Seems to me we didn't go inside enough tonight to draw fouls and to open up the outside game.
It looked to me like out outside game was pretty well covered by NW way too much.
IMO Riley is going to be great, but now he is still into playing hero ball too much, and he drives into traffic like he could in HS, but not in college. And, he does so with no outlet. KJ still does this a bit, too.
So, when they get that figured out...
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I think you're overthinking it. There's one reason we lost today. It's in the box score. Ben Humrichous - Minutes: 39.
 
#182      
Indy Illini Fan
Illiniam1984 said:
Hamer
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IMG_9811.jpeg
 
#185      
NASchamp
Flyin' Illini said:
So far I think the whole is less than the sum of the parts for this team. They have so much young talent and good individual performances, but something is lacking. It's great to have KJ hitting huge shots, but the team is lacking a real experienced go to guy. KJ ended up trying to do a bit too much, taking some incredibly tough shots at the end that he probably shouldn't have.
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We’re missing leadership. Plain and simple.

Toughness. Culture. We need those too.
 
#186      
Indy Illini Fan
the juiceman cometh said:
What Brad needs to do is find an incredible Xs and Os HS coach who has never played college ball. Then you hook him up with a scholarship offer and NIL and have him hang out on the bench as an unused sub, help out with this stuff. And not take up an assistant coach spot. Boom, loophole.
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I’d be alright if we could just find an elite HS coach and give him $100,000+ per year to coach …
 
#187      
OrangeBlue98
21ChampaignSt said:
Going to come to Ben's aid a little bit here. If he shoots his average we win this game in regulation by multiple possession. He is put in the game for one thing, to shoot threes. If he's in the game, he HAS to shoot them. You never know when a shooter will break loose from his slump.

If it were up to me, once we were up 10 or so midway in the 2nd half, I would have started to lean on Morez and a defensive minded line up a little more.
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So confirming he's a spot-minute zone-buster.
 
#188      
grantlab
Let’s admit one thing. Gone are the days of calling this a “semi-away” Illini game. That arena is nowhere NEAR 50% Illini fans, or at least the environment and student section make it feel 90%+ Northwestern on TV. When we go into their building they are always going to be tough as nails.
 
#189      
CentralILLfan
That game is on Underwood. We come out of a timeout twice down the stretch with no play. We fire up a three pointer within 5 seconds of the inbounds pass. Unacceptable. Do we have a coach on the bench that can draw up a play? Pathetic!!
 
#190      
IllinistuckinGopherland
Totally understand the Ben frustration, but I think what hurt us was going up 10. I feel like BU and the team (and us) were waiting for that run, and completely relaxed after we got it. No need for adjustments, everything is fine now. And then they made everything down the stretch and it wasn’t.
 
#192      
Fighter of the Nightman
The Galloping Ghost said:
Conference road games are a different animal. We’re talented, but inexperienced. We’ll learn from this.
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People say this and I get it, but … is getting on a bus and having a new rim to shoot at that psychologically damaging to players?? I was there tonight (section 217 in case I was by any of you!!), and the non-student section crowd was like 70% Illini fans. If these guys were in any way rattled by 15 rows of dorks in white shirts while their own fans far outnumbered them, they’re Charmin soft…
 
#194      
HailtotheChief
ChiTown said:
But he managed to score 11 first half points.
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And I guess Underwood isn't worried about Defense. He made some good cuts and caught some great passes. He, Ben, and Boswellwere 1 of 18 from three, Boswell miss crucial lay ups and Will still struggles from the line. The the 3 n 4 for NW were a match up nightmare for Will once they got rolling. He'll they were for everyone. I almost wish Morez woulda guarded em.
 
#196      
JSpence
Humrichous led the team in blocks. And fouls.

KJ missed 9 shots
Ben missed 8
Will missed 8
Kylan missed 8

Those four had 7 fouls in 149 minutes

Tre was 2/3
Morez was 3/4
Dre was 0/0

Those three had 7 fouls in 36 minutes.

Brad was afraid of fouling. It's bad that he was afraid at all. It's extra bad that he was afraid of fouls of all things in this crazy inconsistent game. It's SUPER bad that he felt that Ben was the least dangerous 5th man on the floor with his numbers. Baffling.

We used to gripe that Brad loses himself and doesn't listen during games. But now... is anyone even speaking up?
 
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#197      
LoveLovie
Not the end of the world. Have to steal one, and go on a run in the big ten. Next two are at home
 
#198      
NashvILLe05
I’m actually concerned for the first time. We were soft against a physical team. We might beat Wisconsin, but need to play very well. We’re not beating Tennessee. Hope BU can figure it out quickly.
 
#199      
Illini2010-11
Such a blown opportunity tonight, especially when up 10 late in 2nd half. Really need to close these games out. No excuses. Road B1G wins are a premium and this was about as easy a Quad 1 win out there. Humrichous really had no business playing as much as he did (39 minutes played was insane!)...1-9 3 point attempts is just not good. That one is on Brad to not seat him on bench.

Strangely, NW had so many defensive breakdowns, leading to open looks, and Illini could not take advantage. Two bad sequences in 2nd half really hurt: the bad 3 point attempt and then fouling when up 5, and the Boswell missed layup which led to breakout layup to cut lead to 1 (huge 4 point swing late in game). OT was just not good.

Much more pressure to at least split the next two games. The next 5 games will be a real test on the development of this team. Two ranked opponents at home (Tennessee likely ranked #1), the Arch Rivaly Game, Chicago State, and then a surprisingly ranked Oregon in Eugene. I hate saying December games are must win, but Tues night vs Wisconsin may classify as close to a must win game now. Margin of error lost tonight.
 
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