Pregame: Illinois vs Iowa, Friday, January 29th, 8:00pm CT, FS1

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#177      
My quick thoughts:
1. Better outside shooting potential - Miller, DMW, Ayo, Trent can all get hot.
2. Better passing team this year - something started to click
3. Grandison at the free throw line is a much better option in the middle of the zone - can pass, can shoot, hits the boards hard
4. Kofi one year older
Agreed with your points, that was last year. I thought we looked very efficient against Penn St. zone this year, maybe better than our regular half court offense.
 
#178      
Not mocking Fran, although I don't like him and love seeing him go francon5, serious question about him.

Has he had a stroke, or have a medical condition with his facial muscles? It could have just been the video but it looked like his mouth/cheek kept doing something odd.
 
#180      
Last year in Iowa city, Coach Francis ran an effective match-up zone and the Illini lost 72 to 65

Why might the zone be less effective this year, than it was last year? Thoughts?
Minor quibble with the article. It’s a 3-2 zone. It was a 3-2 zone every time they ran it last year, vs us and vs others. It’s a natural fall back from their 1-2-2 press. Why is every zone a matchup zone nowadays? Some zones are just straight zones.

It worked because even though kofi was good our guards penetrating vs their guards was our best matchup. That’s why you play a 3-2. Teams have great penetrating guards but can not hit corner 3s.
 
#181      

altenberger22

South Carolina
Vegas says Illini -2
I'll take Iowa and the points. Just watched the disaster of a game played by Michigan State and I feel we're due for one of those, particularly after a long break. Guess I'm still disheartened by the back-to-back home losses earlier this month. I'm thinking Iowa goes bonkers from behind the arc.

Hawks 83
Illini 67

But I want back on the bandwagon if we pull out the victory........
 
#182      
I'll take Iowa and the points. Just watched the disaster of a game played by Michigan State and I feel we're due for one of those, particularly after a long break. Guess I'm still disheartened by the back-to-back home losses earlier this month. I'm thinking Iowa goes bonkers from behind the arc.

Hawks 83
Illini 67

But I want back on the bandwagon if we pull out the victory........
I'm optimistic but....both those loses came after week-long breaks, this will almost be 2, but seems like Iowa has been off for awhile also.Hoping those Beet shots help.
 
#183      
I'm optimistic but....both those loses came after week-long breaks, this will almost be 2, but seems like Iowa has been off for awhile also.Hoping those Beet shots help.
I drank beet juice tonight in solidarity. If they kick iowa in the teeth, I'll keep it up for the rest of the season.
 
#184      
This is not a great matchup for Illinois. Their ability to shoot the three vs our inability to guard the three and Garza's ability to play on the perimeter vs Kofi's struggles guarding the perimeter....are both going to be major, major issues.

I think Illinois will keep within shouting distance, but scoring droughts, poor free throw shooting and an inability to keep the Iowa guards in check with lead to our demise.

Iowa. 82
Illinois. 72
 
#185      
This is not a great matchup for Illinois. Their ability to shoot the three vs our inability to guard the three and Garza's ability to play on the perimeter vs Kofi's struggles guarding the perimeter....are both going to be major, major issues.

I think Illinois will keep within shouting distance, but scoring droughts, poor free throw shooting and an inability to keep the Iowa guards in check with lead to our demise.

Iowa. 82
Illinois. 72
ILL. 79
IOWA 77
WE Beet them by a shot!
 
#188      
I'll take Iowa and the points. Just watched the disaster of a game played by Michigan State and I feel we're due for one of those, particularly after a long break. Guess I'm still disheartened by the back-to-back home losses earlier this month. I'm thinking Iowa goes bonkers from behind the arc.

Hawks 83
Illini 67

But I want back on the bandwagon if we pull out the victory........
You predict a 16 point loss for our best team in 15 years and expect to be welcomed back on the bandwagon with open arms?!
 
#192      

illiniswish09

Northwest Suburbs
I'll take Iowa and the points. Just watched the disaster of a game played by Michigan State and I feel we're due for one of those, particularly after a long break. Guess I'm still disheartened by the back-to-back home losses earlier this month. I'm thinking Iowa goes bonkers from behind the arc.

Hawks 83
Illini 67

But I want back on the bandwagon if we pull out the victory........
You do know that Sparty literally couldn’t practice during the majority of that stretch? They had twenty whatever days off and then 3 days of practice before Rutgers. Yes we’ve gone a long time without a game but we’ve been practicing every day and I’m sure have had some really tough ones with scrimmages. This is way different.
 
#193      
I'll take Iowa and the points. Just watched the disaster of a game played by Michigan State and I feel we're due for one of those, particularly after a long break. Guess I'm still disheartened by the back-to-back home losses earlier this month. I'm thinking Iowa goes bonkers from behind the arc.

Hawks 83
Illini 67

But I want back on the bandwagon if we pull out the victory........
Yeah nobody will be there to pull you up onto the wagon after this win. The loser mentality of some on this board is insane.
 
#194      
I'll take Iowa and the points. Just watched the disaster of a game played by Michigan State and I feel we're due for one of those, particularly after a long break. Guess I'm still disheartened by the back-to-back home losses earlier this month. I'm thinking Iowa goes bonkers from behind the arc.

Hawks 83
Illini 67

But I want back on the bandwagon if we pull out the victory........
And I watched the disaster of a game Hawks had with Indiana last week and believe we have a great shot.

Need to play great D and dont go on a major scoring drought.

Illini 78
Hawks 73
 
#195      
Bad vibes on this one. Really hope I'm wrong.
Good Vibes Love GIF by Lillee Jean
 
#196      
KEY TO ILLINI WIN...DEFENSE!

I'm convinced we won't win a shootout...Gonzaga can, I dont believe we can.

Keeping Hawkeyes UNDER 80 POINTS will make an Illini victory possible.

3 teams so far have kept Iowa under 80 ...Purdue, Rutgers, and Indiana...hoosiers won, rutgers should have won and Purdue fell flat offensively (<40% fg)...and had 3 FT attempts to Iowas 14

All 3 teams kept Iowa below their made FG avg of 29 and under 80 points.

PURDUE...22 Dec lost to Iowa 70-55 handily; boiler makers only attempted 3 FTs to Iowas 14...refs clearly "let them play"...and maybe had a Hawkeye bias

Purdue held Iowa...
-below avg fg made of 29(24)
-below avg of 16 Fts made /gm(10)
-below avg of 42 reb/gm(34)

RUTGERS...2 Jan, lost to Iowa 77-75, lost at FT line (4/12 for Rutgers...Scarlet Nights win if they make 60%FTs)

Rutgers Held Iowa...
- below avg fg made of 29(24)
- below avg of 10 3p/game(7/18)
- below avg of 42 reb/gm(37)
- below avg of 19 asst/gm(13)

INDIANA...21 Jan, beat Iowa 81-69
Hoosiers Held Iowa...
-below avg fg made of 29(24)
-below avg of 10 3p/game(5/23)
-below avg of 19 asst/gm(14)

Defensive intensity will give us victory!
 
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#197      
Iowas biggest weakness by far is transition defense. Gonzaga ran em off the court. We need to take advantage of our athleticism, keep turnovers low and hit free throws. Run Brad run!
 
#199      
I'll be watching for our first free throw attempt of each half. Miss that, and I'll be concerned that we're nervous and are in for a lousy time at the line. Which we can't afford. Breathe guys, breathe.
 
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