Any thoughts what has happened with the defense from Ty? I know his playtime has taken a hit since TSJ came back but I would say his defense is a big reason why. Earlier this year we thought Ty and TSJ could be the best perimeter defender duo. Interested if anyone has noticed why he is struggling still after TSJ is back.
Northwestern 96, Illinois 91 OT Postgame
Of course we don’t like the ending. But for much of the night, that was one crazy-fun basketball game. Punch and Counter Punch. Crowd really into it. Both teams amped up and playing with passion... at least for good stretches.
Shannon will have to get used to the taunting or his game will needlessly suffer as will the performance of The Beloved. You probably don’t ever get comfortable with that stuff but you have to find a way to either block it out or smile with disdain and have fun with it. The taunts will get more creative throughout the Big Ten if they know it is working to get him off his game.
He needs to treat the taunting like a WWE villain and cup his ear with this hand and wave the crowd to bring it on. And then laugh his hind-quarters off.
That Evanston school was not going to be embarassed by the Illini two times in a row. They came out fiery and on a mission.
The most concerning thing is that this was a Tourney-style game and atmosphere and once again The Beloved came up short. We’ve seen that ending before and we don’t need to see that any more. The Illini simply have to be better at these kinds of intense (and road) dogfights.
And as for the Illini defense... any good coach will tell you that you can bring the D EVERY NIGHT even when your ‘O’ is off. Illini need to listen to such wisdom and execute such much better and for the entire game.
Shannon will have to get used to the taunting or his game will needlessly suffer as will the performance of The Beloved. You probably don’t ever get comfortable with that stuff but you have to find a way to either block it out or smile with disdain and have fun with it. The taunts will get more creative throughout the Big Ten if they know it is working to get him off his game.
He needs to treat the taunting like a WWE villain and cup his ear with this hand and wave the crowd to bring it on. And then laugh his hind-quarters off.
That Evanston school was not going to be embarassed by the Illini two times in a row. They came out fiery and on a mission.
The most concerning thing is that this was a Tourney-style game and atmosphere and once again The Beloved came up short. We’ve seen that ending before and we don’t need to see that any more. The Illini simply have to be better at these kinds of intense (and road) dogfights.
And as for the Illini defense... any good coach will tell you that you can bring the D EVERY NIGHT even when your ‘O’ is off. Illini need to listen to such wisdom and execute such much better and for the entire game.
Layups. We just hit 2 of the ones we missed we win. Oh well game over onto play IU.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Hit only one more in regulation and we win there and don't go to OT. I know that's not the way it works but it does indicate how close this one was and how easily we could have beat a team shooting > 50% and over 60% from three in its own gym, which is, frankly, unheard of.
Jump ball call on Dain was insane
So many small things in regulation that could have won this game. For example, on the Domask dunk (which was sick by the way) I thought he was fouled by Nicholson. Of course, no call. And no guarantee DM makes the and 1 but it would have still been a chance for 1 more point to win it. Unfortunately, I thought NW had more of those type of breaks than we did last night. I just want us to get way more consistent defensively. We can't constantly be saying, well, they just couldn't miss. Or, well, that guy just went off. There is a reason for both those excuses and I believe it starts with us.
Terrence doesn't need to play up the heel or villain card. That would honestly make the situation worse for his legal court case. He just needs to be himself and when he has a major fastbreak dunk or a timely three or a momentum changing play, he can let out that scream to release his frustrations/emotions.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
A lot of it was our poor switching and fighting through screens, which gave their shooters open looks, esp from three. More was our failure to finish at the rim. And part of it was they played lights out and likely won't replicate that performance this season again. How many one-handed runners can they make?
They shot 47% (50% from 3) v. Purdue and won by four pts in OT. They shot 55% (61% from 3) last night and won by four pts in OT. They got similarly crushed on the boards in both games but forced 17 Purdue TOs (10 for us) while committing only a handful (5 and 3) themselves in both games.
They're not a bad team, they play with great discipline, and they executed very well last evening. My observation over the years is that when NW has a decent team visitors need to take the crowd out of the game in Welsh-Ryan by halftime. If not, it's a dangerous place to play as the game progresses. Within a couple mins of the second half starting last night I sensed it would go to the wire.
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Maybe I missed it, but make just one more free throw in regulation and we win last night.
With all due respect, TSJ has always had a problem with late game turnovers on his drives.
His resistance to going right was very noticeable too.
Just wish play calling could assist with these known limitations.
BillyBob1
- Champaign
I actually like the jump ball call when Dain had the ball in the lane. The defender never touched the ball, just Dani’s arm.
Our last missed free throw in regulation came with 12:30 to go in the second half. It was also our only missed free throw of the second half. While one extra point seemingly would have made the difference, that is very low on my list of things that prevented the win.
One thing that is pretty wild is that Northwestern scored 20 points in the overtime, but their first points didn't come until 3:34 to go. A lot of that came from scoring with the clocked stopped at the free throw line but that is a crazy amount of points in just over three and a half minutes.
I am too pissy today to go back and look, but I would hazard a guess that if TJ had actually been injured enough the crew would've called it an F2...
Which totally defeats the purpose of the rule.
I agree with you, flat out.
B1G needs to start a gofundme to pay for Lasik for officials.
Or, you know, just hold officials accountable to a standard of performance and make them full time employees who are required to work on their craft in the offseason. But that's just me. I'm prone to crazy ideas like that.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
How about we just get better officials?
blackdog
- Champaign
It adds to the excitement when you have absolutely no idea what they are going to call on any given play!
This was our opportunity on the last play of regulation- literally everyone else was open - Coleman had position against a smaller man down low, Harmon was wide open cutting along the baseline, Guerrier for a 3, TSJ for a 3- any of those passes leads to a good shot and Domask forces one up
Attachments
The officials made some bad calls but they or Underwood didn't lose this game. We dominated the offensive glass but couldn't put the ball back in the basket! Simple!
While I agree the the Illini came up with the short straw on blown calls, I will point out that in real time, no human gets them all. In fact, with slow mo hi def replay, only the officials know the correct call and will make that call correctly every time according to the rules. There are likely 6-12 incorrect calls in most college games.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
From a purely psychological standpoint, I don't think there was any chance Domask was passing the ball there. Buie had abused Domask all game; I'm guessing Domask really wanted the opportunity to hit a game-winner in his face as a final word.
Figure out how to get the conference to address it, and you will get my vote.
Honestly hasn’t Domask been good enough from midrange to earn trust in making that shot? I was upset at the time with the shot but with more time to think about it he was way more likely to knock that down than us drain a kick out 3 imo. Wouldn’t have been mad if he did kick it out but I have confidence in him taking that every time. I think he has done enough this year to gain our trust in his midrange game. He makes that and everyone is on here saying how dependable his midrange game is as they should.
Let's also be honest with ourselves, if we were told before the play happened that the final shot would be Domask taking a turnaround jumper in the paint being guarded one on one by Boo Buie, we would all sign up for that in a heartbeat.
Maybe it was a little further out than he or we would have liked but he is more than capable of hitting that at a high clip.