Pregame: Illinois at Penn State, Wednesday, February 21st, 5:30pm CT, BTN

Status
Not open for further replies.
#76      
Actually, that Shannon Terrance Jr is supposed to be a heck of a player. :)

And if there is EVER a school permanently disqualified from heckling a player about a paper-thin sexual assault allegation, it’s the Fighting Sanduskies (MSU is a close second for Larry Nasser).
Indeed, the scale of their self-own will be immense 😆.


In any event, absence of Clary prolly much more of a factor than heckling chuckleheads.
 
#77      
Boys should be fired up for this one after 3 losses last year. Terrence especially has had this game marked on his calendar
While all of our losses to PSU last year sucked, it was the BTT one (which I unfortunately attended...) that really stuck with me. The first loss in Champaign seemed like such a random flop that we could theoretically move on. The second loss in State College seemed at least justifiable in that it was a road game. However, to lose to them in our Home Away from Home in front of an 80%+ Illini crowd when we desperately needed that win just felt like PSU pouring salt in our wounds. I think a lot of our fan base has been waiting for some revenge!
 
#78      
It seems like the heckling so far hasn't been quite as terrible as anticipated...there's definitely been some crappy chants but a lot of them sound half-assed from the student sections. Just my uninformed POV from the coziness of my couch
I would agree 100%. Ironically, it was really only the game in Evanston (where we had half the crowd anyway) where I really felt any sort of anxiety for TSJ out there due to the viciousness of the opposing crowd. Ohio State was practically a joke. MSU was a rowdy crowd, but by the end of the game they weren't even chanting anything about it. Lastly, if that was the worst the MARYLAND student section of all crowds had for TSJ, I am no longer worried.
 
#79      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
I would agree 100%. Ironically, it was really only the game in Evanston (where we had half the crowd anyway) where I really felt any sort of anxiety for TSJ out there due to the viciousness of the opposing crowd. Ohio State was practically a joke. MSU was a rowdy crowd, but by the end of the game they weren't even chanting anything about it. Lastly, if that was the worst the MARYLAND student section of all crowds had for TSJ, I am no longer worried.
There's a hesitance to "go there", I think
 
#80      
Around this time I feel like was when the 20-21 team went on that insane run of stacking wins before getting the #1 seed. If this team has the same ambitions, we need to run through these below average teams. Won't be easy though but if we can step up defensively we got the horses.
 
#81      

Illini2010-11

Sugar Grove
The seats are listed…but “the venue” isn’t allowing transfers of tickets. I have a Pennsylvania ZIP, and I had my tickets pulled. I have friends who are Penn State fans (one helped train James Franklin while he was in college) and they couldn’t get tickets. I’ve talked with other people partial to Penn State and they all agree that it’s not a good look for PSU.

That won’t matter to PSU if they win. They must not win.
This is Nashville Predatoresqe. If straight ticket transfers are not allowed for the game, then many empty seats in small venue willbe result. Seems like they fear a whiteout becoming an orange out, and in process are hurting some of their own fanbase.

However, as another noted, if ticket transfers are allowed, then StubHub would be the place to go. The seller can directly transfer tickets (would be workaround for official secondary marketplace being blocked for transfer).
 
Last edited:
#82      
Moving to a smaller gym will cause it to be louder.

They normally don’t play there and you are basically telling them PSU fans don’t care so we are moving to the old gym.

I wonder how their concessions, restrooms, parking will keep their fans happy

They also need to ensure that clocks cameras are up to standards to play a college game
 
#83      

altgeld88

Arlington, Virginia
The more I reflect on this coming game the more importance it takes on. These guys played an intense 40 mins in front of a large, hostile crowd Sat evening and it was clear that it was a big win for them (CoHark's Terp-trolling aircraft video is Exhibit 1). Now go play a team languishing at bottom of conference, on par with IU and Michigan on Ken Pom, in a tiny gym that athletic dept mgmt has decreed to be off limits to visiting fans. Loud, novelty home environment. Team that gave MSU fits recently in that empty cavern called Bryce-Jordan, and beat Wisc there.

This is (IMO) the crux of judging the team's maturity this season. Huge test that will tell me a lot about what to expect in March.

I simply hope that no one on the team has a Red Bull fetish.
 
#84      
I have been an Illini fan since Nick Spoon. That is a long time. This team has the components to go a long way this year. If they keep coming together and peak at the right time, they could do some serious damage. Underwood is doing a phenomenal job here and hopefully this year will be topped off with a long run in the tournament. I have not been this excited since 2005. Don't get me wrong. The 2020-2021 team was good but this team has another gear that if kicked in could take away some pain of our underachieving years that WE have LONG endured. Underwood is right. This is where Illini Basketball belongs. When Illinois basketball is good, it is better for everyone. I love it when we play on the road and see the opposing crowds leave in bitter disappointment after we have brought them down. The best thing about this new NIL period for me is that the Blue Bloods are no longer dominating like they once were. There is much more parity. Listen I know it is not perfect but at least now many more schools have a puncher's chance and that is all that you can ask for. I do believe that Illinois will win a title in the next 5 years. Far fetched you say? For me, the sooner the better :)
 
#85      
There's a hesitance to "go there", I think
I think you are definitely right ... at the end of the day with all TSJ is dealing with, a "Lock him up!" chant is probably not going to cut him too deeply while his mind is in game mode, and a "No means no!" chant likely isn't even registering.

I'm a bit hesitant about the small gym at PSU, but it probably won't be any worse than what has come thus far. At Wisconsin could be intense (Saturday crowds seem rowdier everywhere), but hot take alert ... that venue is a shell of its mid-2000s self. Lastly, while you would assume a road game at rival Iowa would be brutal, something about those 6:00 pm Sunday night games subdue the crowds. Also ... I am 99% sure that none of my Iowa friends even know about this story and they've all forsaken men's hoops for Caitlin Clark this year, haha.
 
#86      
I wonder if the students will be allowed to line the baseline like they used to when PSU played regularly at the Rec Center. That seems like it would be a safety hazard under current standards.
 
#87      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
I think you are definitely right ... at the end of the day with all TSJ is dealing with, a "Lock him up!" chant is probably not going to cut him too deeply while his mind is in game mode, and a "No means no!" chant likely isn't even registering.
Oh I don't think they care at all about TSJ's feelings, I think there's a hesitance to go there because even broaching the subject just makes people leery and feel like they're risking they themselves getting accused of insensitivity of some kind.
 
#89      
Oh I don't think they care at all about TSJ's feelings, I think there's a hesitance to go there because even broaching the subject just makes people leery and feel like they're risking they themselves getting accused of insensitivity of some kind.
Oh, I agree and I did not mean to make it sound like they did, haha. I sort of just went off on a tangent that I think the relatively tame taunting so far probably isn't even really phasing TSJ.
 
#90      

altgeld88

Arlington, Virginia
Oh I don't think they care at all about TSJ's feelings, I think there's a hesitance to go there because even broaching the subject just makes people leery and feel like they're risking they themselves getting accused of insensitivity of some kind.
That seems to be one sort of "insensitivity" that's aggressively encouraged in the present culture.

Also, anyone who wasn't in the arena on Saturday and believes that the Maryland students brought a weak taunting game probably haven't heard several thousand people surrounding the court and on a steep incline at one end of the arena screaming "NO MEANS NO" and "LOCK HIM UP!" repeatedly. I found it unnerving and I usually brush off crowd taunts. His consistent FTs and dropping near 30 on them testifies to his poise.
 
#91      
I don't care where they play; the Illini need to man up, accept the challenge and get their double-digit victory. No excuses!
 
#92      
While all of our losses to PSU last year sucked, it was the BTT one (which I unfortunately attended...) that really stuck with me. The first loss in Champaign seemed like such a random flop that we could theoretically move on. The second loss in State College seemed at least justifiable in that it was a road game. However, to lose to them in our Home Away from Home in front of an 80%+ Illini crowd when we desperately needed that win just felt like PSU pouring salt in our wounds. I think a lot of our fan base has been waiting for some revenge!
I think they all sucked very much lol

I was at the home game and that dud came at such a bad time. The week prior, we got beat by a good Maryland team on the road and then, just a few days before PSU, we came out and beat #2 ranked Texas at MSG. It felt like a corner had been turned and we were on our way to CBB domination. Then we fell on our faces.

The next PSU game was when I more or less gave up hope for any kind of special season. The party line for this team was "They just need time to jell!". And after this mid February game in which they once again looked completely lifeless, I gave up on the comfortable delusion that they would magically decide to "jell" just in time for March.

The BTT game, IMO, just validated what we all had to have known by then - they were not going to jell and they were not "built for March". The post season success we all pined for was just as far away as it had ever been.

*shudders*
 
#94      
The seats are listed…but “the venue” isn’t allowing transfers of tickets. I have a Pennsylvania ZIP, and I had my tickets pulled. I have friends who are Penn State fans (one helped train James Franklin while he was in college) and they couldn’t get tickets. I’ve talked with other people partial to Penn State and they all agree that it’s not a good look for PSU.

That won’t matter to PSU if they win. They must not win.
So, were the tickets ever in your hands (on your phone), meaning the seller transferred the tickets to you, you download them to your phone....then they got pulled? How could the venue even be allowed to decide who someone else's tickets can go to?

I didn't know that was even a feasible thing to do. I guess that free enterprise doesn't extend to sporting events?
 
#97      

OrangeBlue98

Des Moines, IA
Indeed, the scale of their self-own will be immense 😆.


In any event, absence of Clary prolly much more of a factor than heckling chuckleheads.
I don't think things have been too bad - I just think it would be an incredible lack of "self-awareness" for Penn State to use that as a heckling subject. I said the same thing about Northwestern students given the football hazing scandal.

Of course, I'm generally very much against any sort of personal heckling toward any individual player. I'm good with general heckling, but when you target a particular college player I think that crosses the line regardless of subject.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.