Pregame: Illinois at Minnesota, Tuesday, January 4th, 6:00pm CT, FS1

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#151      

MDchicago

MDchicago
Lake Norman NC
MDchicago
DeonThomas said:
Now that was fun!! .........and back in the day when Minny was actually good at basketball with Mychal Thompson (father of Klay & Trayce) and the #1 overall pick in the NBA draft, Kevin McHale, etc.
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It sure looks fun for the crowd and players. He did it to get the crowd to show up early for games and be energized by tip-off. Not sure it is worth the distraction to have the players train for it, but the concept of a pre-game attraction that draws the crowd in early and energizes them is a good one.

Musselman, like Knight, had plenty of good and bad. He was sometimes called the most intense man on the planet, and his locker room posters (e.g., "Defeat is worse than death because you have to live with defeat.") back that up. He was also the Gophers coach at the time of the in-game brawl/assault in 1971 that left an Ohio State player in the hospital.
 
#152      

Btpk138

B
Btpk138
My only concern is we were playing great basketball and now we haven't played in a while hopefully we don't have any rust
 
#153      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
ptgd1 said:
Anyone in Charlotte NC watching this game?

Spectrum is showing this game is not televised on FS1 in Charlotte.
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Same for Spectrum in Columbus, OH. I’m assuming on screen guide just has not been updated with the late game rescheduling. Sure hope that is the case.
 
#154      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
www.stltoday.com

Illini are finally set to return to action Tuesday night

Team had been dealing with positive COVID-19 tests.
www.stltoday.com www.stltoday.com

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — After Christmas break, coach Brad Underwood and the Illinois men’s basketball team got some bad news.
When players returned from trips home following their Braggin’ Rights win over Missouri, 10 of them tested positive for COVID-19 and a pause with the program began. After a canceled game against Florida A&M and a postponed contest against Minnesota, Illinois is gearing up to play again.
Illinois (8-3, 2-0 Big Ten) couldn’t play last week because it was under the Big Ten’s requirement of having seven available players, but the team expects to have everyone who isn’t injured to be available against the Gophers. That means Andre Curbelo and Austin Hutcherson still will be out when the teams meet Tuesday at 6 p.m in Minneapolis.

Those players returned after quarantines, some later than the CDC’s new five-day guideline because of inconclusive tests. The CDC’s previous guideline was a 10-day quarantine (until Dec. 27). Underwood said that it is to be determined whether some Illinois players will wear masks during the game.

The Gophers are second in the country in 3-point percentage defense (24.9%). That puts them in an intriguing matchup against the Illini, who are 11th in the country in 3-point shooting. Illinois is 39.75% from behind the arc this season.
“They’re very, very sound and they’re very conservative on the defensive end,” Underwood said. “They’re just right in front of you so they make you shoot over a hand all the time. You’ve just got to jump up and make them.”

“Next man up,” Illinois guard Trent Frazier said. “We’ve had guys put in different positions and have had to step up and had to play a role that they had never played in. I said to coach, ‘If we had five guys, we would have gone to Minnesota and played with five guys.’ That’s what this team is about.”



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Trent Frazier.................................Illini Dog ............................His heart pumps O & B blood........love him.........................
 
#155      

Monticello

M
Monticello
pruman91 said:
www.stltoday.com

Illini are finally set to return to action Tuesday night

Team had been dealing with positive COVID-19 tests.
www.stltoday.com www.stltoday.com



------------------------------------------------------------

Trent Frazier.................................Illini Dog ............................His heart pumps O & B blood........love him.........................
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I didn't realize until reading this post that Johnson was at Xavier. I'm assuming he learned the old slow-em-down Pack Line defense from Chris Mack. I have not watched Minnesota play, but if that's the case, I'd expect us to be shooting a lot of 3's again, which is awesome.
 
#156      

ptgd1

P
ptgd1
pruman91 said:
www.stltoday.com

Illini are finally set to return to action Tuesday night

Team had been dealing with positive COVID-19 tests.
www.stltoday.com www.stltoday.com

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — After Christmas break, coach Brad Underwood and the Illinois men’s basketball team got some bad news.
When players returned from trips home following their Braggin’ Rights win over Missouri, 10 of them tested positive for COVID-19 and a pause with the program began. After a canceled game against Florida A&M and a postponed contest against Minnesota, Illinois is gearing up to play again.
Illinois (8-3, 2-0 Big Ten) couldn’t play last week because it was under the Big Ten’s requirement of having seven available players, but the team expects to have everyone who isn’t injured to be available against the Gophers. That means Andre Curbelo and Austin Hutcherson still will be out when the teams meet Tuesday at 6 p.m in Minneapolis.

Those players returned after quarantines, some later than the CDC’s new five-day guideline because of inconclusive tests. The CDC’s previous guideline was a 10-day quarantine (until Dec. 27). Underwood said that it is to be determined whether some Illinois players will wear masks during the game.

The Gophers are second in the country in 3-point percentage defense (24.9%). That puts them in an intriguing matchup against the Illini, who are 11th in the country in 3-point shooting. Illinois is 39.75% from behind the arc this season.
“They’re very, very sound and they’re very conservative on the defensive end,” Underwood said. “They’re just right in front of you so they make you shoot over a hand all the time. You’ve just got to jump up and make them.”

“Next man up,” Illinois guard Trent Frazier said. “We’ve had guys put in different positions and have had to step up and had to play a role that they had never played in. I said to coach, ‘If we had five guys, we would have gone to Minnesota and played with five guys.’ That’s what this team is about.”



------------------------------------------------------------

Trent Frazier.................................Illini Dog ............................His heart pumps O & B blood........love him.........................
Click to expand...
“They’re just right in front of you so they make you shoot over a hand all the time."

Sounds like prime time for Kofi to have his career game and break the Illini single game scoring record in the rout over the Golden Goofers.
 
#158      

illini55

illini55
The Villages, FL
illini55
Deep said:
Damn.........I did not realize we are a 7 point favorite. I guess Vegas does not think the layoff will effect us.
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Minnesota hasn't played since December 22, so "rust" is a roughly equivalent factor for both teams.
 
#160      

doowink

D
doowink
illini55 said:
Minnesota hasn't played since December 22, so "rust" is a roughly equivalent factor for both teams.
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True, but not many of the Illini have had much practice time or shot a ball in a few days....so our "rust " may be a little rustier than theirs....hopefully not
 
#162      

Matthew Ice II

M
Minneapolis, MN
Matthew Ice II
Minneapolis resident here, I am pumped for some live hoops tonight. Hoping to see an underrated amount of orange tonight!

The Barn is indeed a tough place to play, but I think our guys get it done tonight. Minnesota will have no answer whatsoever for Kofi (per usual when he faces any team, but want to emphasize that tonight). The Gophers only go 6-7 deep and their wings may struggle with Illinois' athleticism; foul trouble could be an issue for them. I expect Illinois to go deep in into the bench tonight and sub often since conditioning will be a challenge.

Minnesota's best 2 players are Peyton Willis and Jameson Battle. Neither have faced defenders as good as Trent, Da'Monte, or Coleman (defending Battle at the 4). Someone else has already said it, but game-planning and scouting were among the few things Illinois players/staff COULD do for the last 2 weeks. I expect the Illini to be locked in defensively.

Prediction:
Illinois 72 - Minnesota 60
 
#164      

BlueLeader

BlueLeader
BlueLeader
DeonThomas said:
Too much disruption over the past 10 days..........I'm turning pessimistic:

- Big 10 road game
- Williams Arena
- A healthier Gopher squad

75 Minn
68 Illini
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Look at NFL players coming off of covid protocol these last few weeks. They have no gas in the tank. This will be worse for basketball than football. We need to slow the game down for our guys even if it's abnormal for us.
 
#166      

KnoxIllini2

KnoxIllini2
KnoxIllini2
We can be as clunky as we need to be, as long as we don't turn the basketball over and get a decent clip of offensive rebounds.
 
#170      

Tacomallini

T
Washington State
Tacomallini
Dan said:
For those not seeing the game on your local listing, some providers are slow (or never) to update when there's a change to the schedule.

The Illinois @ Minnesota game is listed on the official FS1 broadcast schedule-

https://www.foxsports.com/presspass/latest-news/weekly-schedule (pdf)
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Thanks. And yikes - that's 4pm PDT and I have little kids. I imagine that there will be DVR issues if none of the providers are recognizing the game. I will spend the next several hours scheming 1) how to convince my wife I'm working late, 2) convince my work I need to head home early and 3) find some WiFi to watch the game live.
 
#171      

lstewart53x3

lstewart53x3
Scottsdale, Arizona
lstewart53x3
GallopingGhost said:
Yeah they definitely will have practiced more than us. Only rust is no D1 game action, which I suppose is still something
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Got it. Then in response to the poster above, there’s a difference between not playing in a game in a few weeks and not being able to practice for a few weeks. So if rust is a factor tonight, I’d say advantage Minnesota.
 
#172      

Brosky

B
Brosky
Tonight's game is a big deal. A second conference win on the road against a good team would be huge, coming as it does just prior to two very winnable games. We could be sitting at 5-0 in the league. I'd take that for sure. Is the game against Maryland (Ayo's recognition night) a sellout? It should be.
 
#173      

ptgd1

P
ptgd1
Dan said:
For those not seeing the game on your local listing, some providers are slow (or never) to update when there's a change to the schedule.

The Illinois @ Minnesota game is listed on the official FS1 broadcast schedule-

https://www.foxsports.com/presspass/latest-news/weekly-schedule (pdf)
Click to expand...
Thanks Dan.

My Spectrum program guide is still showing Boxing at 6:00 and Providence at Marquette at 8:00 but I suspect they haven't yet corrected that listing since the change in the rescheduled time slot. Sorry I panicked the other day.
 
#174      

illini 67

I
illini 67
altgeld88 said:
For a little pregame Golden Gopher entertainment, check out this video from early 1975 (v. the Hoosiers) of the Harlem Globetrotter warmup routine that coach Bill Musselman (father of Eric) choreographed. Point guard Flip Saunders leads it. I queued the video to the point where the team runs onto the floor, preceded by the strains of Also sprach Zarathustra from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

For those unfamiliar with him, Musselman's temperament at times made Bobby Knight look like Roy Williams. He scooted out of town in '75 for the ABA with the NCAA on his heels. It nailed Minnesota for more than 100 rule violations during his five-season tenure, and imposed a three-year probation including a two-year postseason ban, a TV ban, and scholly reduction.

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That was Pistol Pete's homework basket ball.
 
#175      

jrichisamazing

J
jrichisamazing
I actually think this will be like the Michigan game last year when Ayo was out. We expect it to be ugly, then we come out and blow them away.
 
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