Pregame: Illinois at Michigan State, Saturday, February 10th, 1:00pm CT, CBS
- Status
I predict we will work on inbounding the ball from the baseline vs. heavy pressure before this game.
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
Really glad we have almost a week off. My heart needs a rest. Lotta things to work on before this one.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Unfortunately, I’m not as sure. As great as Underwood has been and as incredibly grateful as I am he’s here, this has been such a weirdly glaring issue for all of his teams. I STILL have nightmares from the 2019 Maryland loss at home where Da’Monte managed to throw it away without touching anyone so UMD got it under the basket in which they needed to score…
Anyway, if we give an effort like vs. Mizzou or FAU or even in a loss vs. Tennessee, we will win. If we at least play like we did vs. Michigan and OSU, we’ll give ourselves a shot. If we miss dunks, can’t inbound the ball and are otherwise prone to mistakes that add up to 4-6 points … we’ll be lucky to lose a close one.
This group is so likable and has proven they can be REALLY good, but we need to clean things up.
It has definitely been an issue for years. Coaches prioritize, they have to. Like "we haven't time to teach the principles of truly effective zone play" or "we do NOT give up uncontested threes", or ... whatever. But plays involving inbounding the ball are not a small part of the game. At all. It is strange how little emphasis BTN analysts and on up the food chain place on considering this fact. (Yes, fact.)
Once upon a time we had a coach who was incredibly good at coaching baseline and sideline out of bounds plays. Of course, he had other issues and had to go (I completely agree with that).
So again, one of the factors involved here is priorities regarding practice time as well as team philosophy. But I wish our program would up the priority level a bit on inbounding the ball. I will say it again: it is strange how little discussion there is regarding this topic considering just how many points CAN be scored, and how many games won, by excelling in this seemingly small phase of the game. But what do I know ....
Last edited:
Beat the Angry Elf!
Got handle the atmosphere and play our game
Need to clean up the bad turnovers
It will be a tough rebounding battle so let’s make our shots
Need to clean up the bad turnovers
It will be a tough rebounding battle so let’s make our shots
Can go on a nice winning streak in February if we get a win here. Then get Brad his first win at Maryland in a couple weeks.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Fun facts ... all-time series vs. Michigan State is tied 64-64, per the Illini website. We have won 4 straight vs. Sparty, including our last trip to East Lansing in 2022. Let's do this.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
For the love of god let them take care of Minnesota on Tuesday.
I think a week of practice will be very good for the squad.
Good thing we have a week off after a grueling game. Lots to work on.
Illini in Indiana
- Indiana
Ya at Mich St, we need to bring our A game. We've gotten by recently with a B & C game at home. It is a quad 1 game for both teams.
Michigan State plays at Minnesota on Tuesday night. 8:00 PM on Peacock. It starts a stretch of 3 of their next 4 on the road with the game against the Illini being the only one at home. The other two road games are at Penn State and at Michigan.
Loyalty when there's nearly a week between games:
MSU game is huge. Going to need to play very well to win that one.
But cant really overlook anyone at this point. Need to take care of business at MSU then come and beat down Michigan before the road stretch of Maryland and PSU that scares me. Maryland is very tough at home and has had our number lately then after a tough game you have PSU in a tiny gym that will be very loud, classic letdown game if they beat Maryland.
If they can go 4-0 over this stretch I'll feel confident but it's going to be tough.
But cant really overlook anyone at this point. Need to take care of business at MSU then come and beat down Michigan before the road stretch of Maryland and PSU that scares me. Maryland is very tough at home and has had our number lately then after a tough game you have PSU in a tiny gym that will be very loud, classic letdown game if they beat Maryland.
If they can go 4-0 over this stretch I'll feel confident but it's going to be tough.
This is the first of 3 very tough road games this month at MSU, Marlyland, and Penn State. IMO we need to win 2 of those 3 to have a shot at a conference title, which will be very difficult especially considering our recent struggles with Maryland and PSU. A win here would be huge.
It's time to retire that "4 Verticals" inbound play
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
Loyalty when there's nearly a week between games:
- Status