I think our defense is terrible, as many have pointed out. But there are offensive issues too. Too many players are just taking up space while Shannon dribbles and dribbles at the top of the arc, trying to decide when it's time to make that drive to the hoop. Make no mistake I love the guy and I'm sure glad he's on our side. Hawkins and Dainja need to be on the floor at the same time with Dain providing the traditional post. We don't have a point guard either.
Penn State 90, Illinois 89 Postgame
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I can sympathize with everyone's concern with the performance for 39:20 that got us to up 7 with the ball with 40 seconds left. Penn State isn't that good and only a thermonuclear TSJ kept our heads above water in a game that featured quite a few boneheaded plays (though I don't think the defensive performance on the whole was quite as bad as the Zach Hamer QAnon Brigade wants to declare). But y'know, life on the road in the Big Ten, survive and advance, etc. I can't be that mad about a reasonably comfortable road win where we dominated the middle 20 minutes.
It's the 4 or 5 moments in that last 40 seconds where you could be forgiven for thinking we were trying to lose the game on purpose from there that I just can't believe I saw from this veteran team that considers itself to be going places. What was any of that?
Two entirely different things, IMO. We in fact broke PSU pressure and responded to their runs and energy and moments extremely well all game. Until we didn't.
It's the 4 or 5 moments in that last 40 seconds where you could be forgiven for thinking we were trying to lose the game on purpose from there that I just can't believe I saw from this veteran team that considers itself to be going places. What was any of that?
Two entirely different things, IMO. We in fact broke PSU pressure and responded to their runs and energy and moments extremely well all game. Until we didn't.
buried in the hot takes are desperate pleas to fix ... these pleas have been ongoing for 4-5 weeks and are getting louder and accompanied by how maddening it is fixable things aren't being fixed or are one-step forward and three-steps back - especially when the potential is F4
Yeah, well that's all well and good. But the defensive problems haven't been fixed all season and it's way too late to fix them now. You'll be complaining about "hot takes and idiotic comments" right up to being booted out of the Tournament and say "on to next YEAR." That's just as idiotic as some of the comments you complain about. This team has the talent but for whatever reason(s) it is underperforming at a time when it should be peaking. PSU with 90 points 26 games in? Seriously? The problems are not being fixed and there is nothing to indicate Brad has the ability to fix them. "Bench guys" and give more playing time to someone else was his ONLY answer to the defensive problems in his presser. Replace them with whom? If that's his only plan, he has none.
Penn State hung 90 on us... The defense is that bad.
Creighton is better than us. Don't think that one is comparable.Fortunately I had to miss last night's game to attend my grandson's Jr. High basketball game, followed by my granddaughter's 6th grade basketball game. I did peek at the score in between games and saw the Beloved up by 7 (?) at the half. I didn't check again until I got home around 9 last night, only to see that we lost by one. I checked the box score and play by play on the ESPN, and decided that I didn't need to watch the turd that we laid in the last few minutes.
However, I the think that turd is dwarfed by the 29 pages of steaming, stinking fecal matter in this thread. Maybe unprecedented.
Like all, I'm, sad, hurt, depressed, whatever . . . But the amount of "hot" takes and downright idiotic comments here rivals the game threads . . . nay, EXCEEDS the game threads by a factor of oh, say, a million. According to various posters here, Brad should be fired; Luke, Marcus, Hawkins, Ty, Q, Dain, DGL, Moretti, Harmon all should be thrown out . . . I'm sure I missed some other stupid take . . .
Purdue lost to Ohio State (and Nebraska and Northwestern) . . . UCONN lost to Creighton . . . we lost. Fix the problems and on to the next game.
Pay attention to when Goode comes in. He starts on a wing and the other team immediatley uses Goode's man to screen then when the switch occurs they run away leaving Luke on thier point guard.
That's why Quincy is so important to us. When he is playing well, he is capable of switching and covering well.
That's a little bit of an overreaction.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
Giving up 90 to Penn State is completely unacceptable. Our defense is so bad.
This team has the talent to make a deep NCAA run, but their defense is the weak link that can result in a first round upset.
A team with this type of athleticism should NEVER be this bad defensively. If nothing else, effort plus athelticism should result in at least a passable defense. Underwood needs a good defensive coach on his staff to get this straightened out.
Illinois has lost four conference games where even a decent defensive performance should have resulted in a win.
This team has the talent to make a deep NCAA run, but their defense is the weak link that can result in a first round upset.
A team with this type of athleticism should NEVER be this bad defensively. If nothing else, effort plus athelticism should result in at least a passable defense. Underwood needs a good defensive coach on his staff to get this straightened out.
Illinois has lost four conference games where even a decent defensive performance should have resulted in a win.
Chester but they have Hamer who is inexperienced taking care of defensive strategy. Lol
This overreacting to a freak loss is a bit staggering. Never should have lost this game, but I assumed of we scored 90, we would win by 20.
This loss hurt but I've followed a lot of teams this year. No team is safe from upsets, especially on the road. Next one up.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Had we played better defense the game would have been out of reach of PSU, sure. And by no means was it a good defensive performance. The inbounds failures are one thing (though that's really more "special teams"), but I really hated the way we let Nick Kern go wherever he wanted in the 2nd half. We got control over Ace Baldwin as the game went along, but seemingly at the cost of letting their hot hand just have free rein.
All of that said, point totals reflect pace, both teams were happy to have the game be the track meet that it was, and from PSU's initial spurt where they couldn't miss (Wahab hit a jumper!) to 40 seconds left and PSU declining to foul with the game over, we gave up 66 points in like 34 minutes of an end-to-end game in which we scored 82 over the same period.
This is increasingly just kind of a soft and lackadaisical defensive team which is disturbing and a huge problem going forward. But the story of last night's game is that we stopped playing in a game we had won.
So you didnt watch the game but come in here and write a diatribe about how the people that watched it should feel? Thats weak dude. Weaker than our on ball defense. Take a hike.Fortunately I had to miss last night's game to attend my grandson's Jr. High basketball game, followed by my granddaughter's 6th grade basketball game. I did peek at the score in between games and saw the Beloved up by 7 (?) at the half. I didn't check again until I got home around 9 last night, only to see that we lost by one. I checked the box score and play by play on the ESPN, and decided that I didn't need to watch the turd that we laid in the last few minutes.
However, I the think that turd is dwarfed by the 29 pages of steaming, stinking fecal matter in this thread. Maybe unprecedented.
Like all, I'm, sad, hurt, depressed, whatever . . . But the amount of "hot" takes and downright idiotic comments here rivals the game threads . . . nay, EXCEEDS the game threads by a factor of oh, say, a million. According to various posters here, Brad should be fired; Luke, Marcus, Hawkins, Ty, Q, Dain, DGL, Moretti, Harmon all should be thrown out . . . I'm sure I missed some other stupid take . . .
Purdue lost to Ohio State (and Nebraska and Northwestern) . . . UCONN lost to Creighton . . . we lost. Fix the problems and on to the next game.
Completely honest question...How big of a jump does Sincere need to make next year for this redshirt to be worth it. Could his defense have been the difference in a close loss to MSU, Marquette, Maryland, NW, Penn St, Purdue, or Tennessee? If we win just 2 of those games our season looks much different.
So how much improvement is needed to warrant him sitting out?
So how much improvement is needed to warrant him sitting out?
Captain 14
- The Last Best Place
The over seems like a pretty safe bet these days
I have said most of this season that we are not a very good defensive team.... and unless we fix the defense we're not winning the conf. or making a significant run in the tourney....last night was exactly what I've been talking about.... our defense was bad......having said that....we were just a play away from winning that game.....the end of game management collapse, was dare I say...ELITE......a 7 pt lead with 45 seconds to go and we lose by 1....how does that happen....after this loss I'm back to where I was before the season began....you've got to show me (every friggin game) how good are you
Ty's stats on the night-
1.66ppp on 17% possession contribution (126ppg pace on possessions he contributed on)- 1st on team
100% shooting percentage- 1st on team
15.0pts per 40- 4th on team
17.5rebs per 40- 1st on team
12.5 off rebs per 40- 1st on team
7.5 ast per 40- 1st on team
3:1 a/to ratio- 2nd on team
2.5 stl per 40- 1st on team
+2.7pts +/- impact- 3rd on team
+0.9pts defensive impact- 2nd on team
Yeah, makes sense we wouldn't want Ty out there in crunch time. I mean, he only led the team in offensive efficiency, shooting, rebounding, assists, and steals per 40 last night, gave us positive plus minus, and was probably our best defensive player last night. Should've led in blocks, or changed his name to Magic Johnson to get in the game during crunch time I guess. I just don't get it.
People say we have a PG problem, but if that's a problem, our late game personnel issues are far far greater. If Brad can't recognize we go in the tank late in games when Ty isn't on the floor and close them out when Ty is, he's either blind or fool.
1.66ppp on 17% possession contribution (126ppg pace on possessions he contributed on)- 1st on team
100% shooting percentage- 1st on team
15.0pts per 40- 4th on team
17.5rebs per 40- 1st on team
12.5 off rebs per 40- 1st on team
7.5 ast per 40- 1st on team
3:1 a/to ratio- 2nd on team
2.5 stl per 40- 1st on team
+2.7pts +/- impact- 3rd on team
+0.9pts defensive impact- 2nd on team
Yeah, makes sense we wouldn't want Ty out there in crunch time. I mean, he only led the team in offensive efficiency, shooting, rebounding, assists, and steals per 40 last night, gave us positive plus minus, and was probably our best defensive player last night. Should've led in blocks, or changed his name to Magic Johnson to get in the game during crunch time I guess. I just don't get it.
People say we have a PG problem, but if that's a problem, our late game personnel issues are far far greater. If Brad can't recognize we go in the tank late in games when Ty isn't on the floor and close them out when Ty is, he's either blind or fool.
sbillini
- st petersburg, fl
Agreed. They basically have a hot take about people having too many hot takes. It's really quite impressive when you think about it.
I'm not sure what game you were watching, but the defense was abysmal. I lost count of the number of layups Kern had, and they weren't heavily contested layups either.
We should've never put ourself in that position but the last 1 minute or so of game were one low-probability event after another, i.e. every unlikely event could've gone wrong for us went wrong.
- TSJ was clearly fouled on the inbound and that would've been called in 90% of cases. But instead, it wasn't and it ended up being a turnover and PSU scored a layup on that
- CH missing both free throws. CH's a 80% free throw shooter and has been pretty clutch in terms of free throws this season. But this time, he missed both.
- CH fouling a 3 point shooter and the other player made all three of their free throws
Maybe we can chalk up this game as a black swan event? Rather it happens now than in March.
- TSJ was clearly fouled on the inbound and that would've been called in 90% of cases. But instead, it wasn't and it ended up being a turnover and PSU scored a layup on that
- CH missing both free throws. CH's a 80% free throw shooter and has been pretty clutch in terms of free throws this season. But this time, he missed both.
- CH fouling a 3 point shooter and the other player made all three of their free throws
Maybe we can chalk up this game as a black swan event? Rather it happens now than in March.
100%. We rank #71 for Team Defensive Efficiency at 0.978...but what's concerning is that the last 3 games it's at 1.078 which would put us at 297th. There's definitely a trend and a problem.
NCAA Basketball Stats - NCAA BB Team Defensive Efficiency | TeamRankings.com
NCAA Basketball defensive efficiency, by team.
www.teamrankings.com
It is not the loss itself but the way they loss, the same mistakes that has plagued them all year and, in the past, reared their ugly head again. Inability to make free throws in the clutch, inability to inbound the ball in the closing minutes, inability to break the press. Poor basketball IQ for plays the need to be made in the closing minutes or winning time of the game. We have seen the same type of play from different players on the floor over the years so is it the players that are being recruited or the philosophy/style coaching of the head coach that recruits them.... just saying.
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