Pregame: Illinois at Michigan, Sunday, March 2nd, 2:45pm CT, CBS

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#76      
RabidDawgClassic
skyIdub said:
Maybe they haven’t quite cleaned all the Juwan juice and Dickensomething out of their locker room?
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#77      
Gregjacksonfan
RockfordIllini said:
I might be crazy but I actually kinda like this matchup.

Golden is a beast and will likely get his no matter what. But a healthy Tomi should be able to slow things up.

But where I think we could potentially give them fits is to put Kylan on Wolf. I think Kylan can fluster Wolf on the perimeter and should be able to get his hands on a lot of balls due to the height difference. Yes, if Wolf backs Kylan down he’s got 10 inches but that’s not really Wolf’s game. I would see if Wolf is willing or able to consistently back down Kylan and adjust from there if necessary.

Again, I may be crazy. It may not work at all. But if Kylan can fluster Flagg on the perimeter, I think he can do the same to Wolf. Get Wolf flustered/sped up/uncomfortable and I think we’ve cut off the head of the snake.
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I would put Tre on Wolf. I haven’t seen Wolf post up a lot. Likes to work from perimeter. My fear is that Brad will think he has to play Ben 30 minutes for matchups
 
#78      
DeeIL89
Gregjacksonfan said:
I would put Tre on Wolf. I haven’t seen Wolf post up a lot. Likes to work from perimeter. My fear is that Brad will think he has to play Ben 30 minutes for matchups
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I am fully expecting Will to be back on the bench and Brad putting Ben back in the starting 5 for this. But if Ben is already struggling early against Wolf, Brad could switch to having a combination of Tre and Kylan guarding Wolf. Brad had Kylan guarding Cooper Flagg.
 
#79      
Illini 993
Who guards Wolf is the question. But, one small reason for some optimism is that Goldin averages 2.2 TOs in 26", and Wolf 3.3 in 30", which seems to be a fairly high rate for bigs. While we are not a team that causes a lot of turnovers, we have had some success on stripping the ball from bigs, especially by Bam, KJ, and will Riley. It might not be a huge factor, but in a close game it could help.
 
#80      
ginabackes00
It will be difficult to go with the same starting lineup against Michigan. Both Wolf and Golden are 7 footers.
 
#83      
Illiniindian
I wish the game was a different time. This seems to happen too often.
I will be in Champaign watching the women play on March 2nd.. Will need to drive home afterwards.
 
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#84      
Oracle21
Michigan has played an insane amount of close games this year:

Wake Forest (72-70) Loss
Wisconsin (67-64) Win
Iowa (85-83) Win
Arkansas (89-87) Loss
Oklahoma (87-86) Loss
Northwestern (80-76) Win
Penn State (76-72) Win
Rutgers (66-63) Win
Minnesota (84-81) Loss
Oregon (80-76) Win
Indiana (70-67) Win
Purdue (75-73) Win
Ohio State (86-83) Win
Nebraska (49-46) Win

I think if KJ scores at least 20 points Illinois can win this. I can’t trust a Michigan team that plays that many close games. But I do think IL is going to get a super focused Michigan team. Michigan controls their own destiny in the Big 10 race. If Michigan wins their last 3 home games (Rutgers, Illinois, Maryland), then their final game at Michigan State is at the very least a conference championship game.
 
#90      
Second place is 1st loser
jrichisamazing said:
Hard to see us winning with only 1 big. Best strategy is to let their big guys get theirs. Just don't give up open 3s or offensive rebounds. Then hope our offense gets hot and they can't keep up.

The good news is Michigan has to play on Thursday, so we get an extra 2 days rest. We also get an extra 2 days rest against Purdue FWIW. Kind of an extra bonus at the end of the season for us.
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Giving up offensive rebounds is going to happen given your outline of having only one big. Our guards have to crash the glass. This isn't a great matchup for us. Even with Morez, it's not a great matchup.
 
#91      
OrangeKrush1981
Second place is 1st loser said:
Giving up offensive rebounds is going to happen given your outline of having only one big. Our guards have to crash the glass. This isn't a great matchup for us. Even with Morez, it's not a great matchup.
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I agree. The thing to do then is try to turn the mismatch on defense (undersized defender, or too slow big defender) into a mismatch at the other end.
 
#92      
RichAdams
AndyKaufmanstutor said:
Humrichous played 14 minutes against Iowa and Riley started and played over 30. Finally the staff is making some changes. Maybe we have a chance.
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Name checks out. Humrichous was only needed for 14 minutes because Iowa has a light front line. The reasonable expectation for the Michigan game is that Humrichous will need to play as many minutes as Wolf. And so if Wolf is able to stay on the court for 40 minutes, Humrichous will be there if Wolf goes to get popcorn during a timeout (and hopefully will be able to wrestle the change away from Wolf at the Popcorn Stand).
 
#94      
Fighter of the Nightman
PNWIllini said:
We were all sure we’d lose big without Ayo a few years ago.

So who’s going to be our Curbello this time. The bench guy who they don’t see coming who goes off and we win going away.
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That game would have been remembered SO much more vividly by fans if not for the Loyola debacle. We were truly playing with house money without Ayo and on the road, and we flat-out embarrassed #2 on their home floor. It was such a loud and emphatic statement that we were a #1 seed. So fun to watch.

Another beatdown in Ann Arbor would be very fun indeed!!
 
#96      
sacraig
Oldskoolkoach said:
We could use TSJ, Domask, Ayo, Kofi, and DMFW with Trent, Andres, KJ, and Tomi coming off the bench.

I could probably even win 1st round with that team!
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Not going to lie, I'll take healthy Tomi over Kofi.

And KJ over DMFW.

And I feel like that group needs more height than Domask offers.
 
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