Pregame: Illinois at Michigan State, Saturday, February 19th, 11:00am CT, ESPN

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#176      
Fighter of the Nightman
IIRC, Trent and Da'Monte have won a road game in every arena except for Maryland and MSU. They crossed Iowa off that list earlier this year, let's add MSU to the list of names we're taking! They have won a lot of road games in their time here:

IND (2-2): 2022, 2021
IOWA (1-2): 2022
UMD (0-2): Never
MICH (2-1): 2021, 2020
MSU (0-3): Never
MINN (2-2): 2022, 2021
NEB (3-2): 2022, 2021
NU (3-2): 2022, 2021, 2020
OSU (2-2): 2021, 2019
PSU (2-1): 2021, 2020
PUR (1-2): 2020
RUT (1-3): 2018
WISC (2-2): 2021, 2020

Considering we won TWO Big Ten road games in their first two seasons, what they've accomplished is pretty amazing. They're .500 or above in 8 out of the 14 Big Ten arenas, and that is taking into account going 1-19 to start. Awesome and hilarious that they will have the opportunity to finish 3-1 in Ann Arbor and 3-0 vs. Juwan there. :cool:
 
#177      
RockfordIllini
I don’t know if we necessarily need to change the starting lineup, but I do think there’s an argument that we need to split Jake/DaMonte with RJ/Luke more often. The freshmen will make more mistakes on D, but neither is afraid to shoot.

Both Jake and DaMonte are a little timid right now and are passing up open looks. When you have 2 guys on the floor at the same time passing up open looks, it leads to a lot of shot fakes and half hearted drives, and usually ends up with a contested Trent 3 as the shot clock expires. If we had Luke, RJ, or Podz ready to fire, that could act as a pressure release valve and maybe even let Jake/DaMonte relax some.

Just my 2 cents. I do think we match up better with MSU than Rutgers, but we know they are going to come out and try and bully us like they did last year. I hope we bring it!
 
#179      
Champaign88
Grandison has been off with his shooting, but I think his ability to make the high-low entry pass should not be overlooked. Aside from BBV, I’m not sure anyone else on the team can make that pass as well and as often as Jake.
 
#180      
1970 John
See you in the Pizza Hut parking lot tomorrow. Izzo's gang better be ready for a fight. I think Brad is mad.
Pizza Hut GIF by Cineworld Cinemas
 
#182      
grantlab
Champaign88 said:
Grandison has been off with his shooting, but I think his ability to make the high-low entry pass should not be overlooked. Aside from BBV, I’m not sure anyone else on the team can make that pass as well and as often as Jake.
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It appears to be all mental for Jake, which is disheartening considering how capable of a shooter he is and how the whole team describes him as “cool as a cucumber.” I know he’s slumping, but there’s no reason a guy who’s shot +40% from 3 the last 2 seasons should be passing up any wide open look from deep. Love that he’s calm and composed, but would love to see some positive energy out of him when he does get one to fall. Confidence is contagious!
 
#183      
doowink
DeonThomas said:
I have a different opinion. I instead maintain that Rutgers had superior "game prep" coaching and took away our good looks from three. They overplayed our guards beyond the 3-pt arc and would not allow us to get good looks for 50-75% of the game. DaMonte's 3-pt attempts for example were God-awful. He was hurried and way too deep. Goode's one attempt was forced/hurried from the corner and half of Plummer's 3's were hurried and off-balance. I thought the Rutgers defense was superb and responsible for some really poor looks we got.

On the offensive end, I also thought Pikiell several times went 1:1 against our weakest defensive link. The two best examples were Ron Harper Jr. taking RJ to school for back-to-back buckets in the first half. Mulcahy later did the same thing backing his guy down in the paint for two or three short 5 footers.
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If you listen to BU today, he said that even though we were like 1-13 from 3 in first half they were good shots, some wide open looks....if we hit the percentage we normally do we win...he doesn't want players passing up good looks....not direct quote but that was my take on his comments
 
#184      
Cook
BU press conference 3:51-4:06 🤘🤘🤘
As a fan, you have to freaking love that!
 
#185      
Cook
doowink said:
If you listen to BU today, he said that even though we were like 1-13 from 3 in first half they were good shots, some wide open looks....if we hit the percentage we normally do we win
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He also said analytics say we win that game 92% of the time with the shots that we took. I just don't know on this part, watching the game it really felt like our outside shots were mostly of a higher degree of difficulty than normal (taller defenders on top of guys and really challenging the shot, going up off balance/off one foot, rushing/out of rhythm).

With everything going on that contributes to a shot, I don't see how you can rely on analytics in that way. Different story if we're talking free throws or playing HORSE or something.
 
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#187      
Chieeeeffffff
Cook said:
He also said analytics say we win that game 92% of the time with the shots that we took. I just don't know on this part, watching the game it really felt like our outside shots were mostly of a higher degree of difficulty than normal (taller defenders on top of guys and really challenging the shot, going up off balance/off one foot, rushing/out of rhythm).

With everything going on that contributes to a shot, I don't see how you can rely on analytics in that way. Different story if we're talking free throws or playing HORSE or something.
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Agree on this take. I found that whole part contradictory. Is it effort that isn’t causing shots to drop, or did we take good shots that just didn’t fall? If the latter, the effort piece seems academic. I think he was trying to defend the offensive philosophy while also taking the lack of effort to task and the result was mixed messaging. Then again, if my team laid an inexplicable turd like that, I would probably not have great answers either.

That said, last year we had pretty weak efforts against Nebraska on the road, Maryland at home, and OSU at home (albeit a bit earlier in the schedule), so not unheard of for his teams. I think this game sees a Wisconsin-like effort from Kofi. He obviously has challenged him given his comments during the presser.

Also, we lost to Mizzou last year with a completely healthy squad. The memory of abysmal efforts fades, particularly because he has shown in the Kofi era that he can push the right buttons after let downs.
 
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#188      
alaskaillini
Chieeeeffffff said:
Agree on this take. I found that whole part contradictory. Is it effort that isn’t causing shots to drop, or did we take good shots that just didn’t fall? If the latter, the effort piece seems academic. I think he was trying to defend the offensive philosophy while also taking the lack of effort to task and the result was mixed messaging. Then again, if my team laid an inexplicable turd like that, I would probably not have great answers either.

That said, last year we had pretty weak efforts against Nebraska on the road, Maryland at home, and OSU at home (albeit a bit earlier in the schedule), so not unheard of for his teams. I think this game sees a Wisconsin-like effort from Kofi. He obviously has challenged him given his comments during the presser.

Also, we lost to Mizzou last year with a completely healthy squad. The memory of abysmal efforts fades, particularly because he has shown in the Kofi era that he can push the right buttons after let downs.
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Effort gets you more opportunities when shots aren't falling.
 
#189      
The Galloping Ghost
Chieeeeffffff said:
Agree on this take. I found that whole part contradictory. Is it effort that isn’t causing shots to drop, or did we take good shots that just didn’t fall? If the latter, the effort piece seems academic. I think he was trying to defend the offensive philosophy while also taking the lack of effort to task and the result was mixed messaging. Then again, if my team laid an inexplicable turd like that, I would probably not have great answers either.

That said, last year we had pretty weak efforts against Nebraska on the road, Maryland at home, and OSU at home (albeit a bit earlier in the schedule), so not unheard of for his teams. I think this game sees a Wisconsin-like effort from Kofi. He obviously has challenged him given his comments during the presser.

Also, we lost to Mizzou last year with a completely healthy squad. The memory of abysmal efforts fades, particularly because he has shown in the Kofi era that he can push the right buttons after let downs.
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why-not-both-why-not.gif

We both couldn't hit an open shot to save our lives AND got killed on the boards, going for loose balls, and lost our men on defense. We shot 37.9% overall and 26.1% from 3pt and were out rebounded 46-28. Meanwhile, we allowed Rutgers to shoot 47.5% from the field. Both execution and effort were off.
 
#196      
GBIllini
I want the win but I also want to see all our players play with the same energy and intensity no matter what is happening on the floor. Years ago there was a really good player for SIU named Kent Williams who was a prolific high school scorer. He did very well at SIU helping them to a sweet sixteen. The thing that impressed me most is that you could never tell by watching him how things were going. If his shots were falling or not or if there was some questionable calls, his expression and effort never changed. He could be on a heater or 2 for 12 he never let it show on his face or in his mannerisms. They actually beat Indiana that year and Bobby Knight told him you can play for me anytime. We need more of this type of approach moving forward.
 
#198      
altgeld88
Two Friday night thoughts from a middle-aged guy:

(1) I have come to loathe Izzo and MSU since the hit on Ayo;

(2) I'm reminded of legendary Minnesota Gophers coach Herb Brooks' taunting of his players on the 1980 U.S. gold medal-winning Olympic hockey team: "You're playing worse every day and right now you're playing like the middle of next month."

I thought of that latter quote today when reflecting on the Illini's most recent ~ 50 minutes of basketball. BU is a Herb Brooks kinda guy, which is one among many reasons why I'm delighted he's our man.

I'm betting the boys take the floor with some fire tomorrow. To quote Brooks: "I'm asking you to go to the well again."

Mircale - Bruise to the leg.gif
 
#199      
InDaAZ
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#200      
doowink
Cook said:
He also said analytics say we win that game 92% of the time with the shots that we took. I just don't know on this part, watching the game it really felt like our outside shots were mostly of a higher degree of difficulty than normal (taller defenders on top of guys and really challenging the shot, going up off balance/off one foot, rushing/out of rhythm).

With everything going on that contributes to a shot, I don't see how you can rely on analytics in that way. Different story if we're talking free throws or playing HORSE or something.
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Yea I sure thought that many of the shots taken were contested..maybe a couple of what I'd call wide open....but I haven't gone back and watched a second time to confirm that opinion....not quite sure why we can't get better looks on the perimeter when they double or triple Kofi...maybe perimeter players are not moving into the open slots making it more difficult for defenders to recover or if Kofi isn't recognizing the double team quickly enough 🤷‍♂️
 
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