sacraig
- The desert
This is how we know you aren't new to the Illinois bandwagon.
Pregame: Illinois vs Syracuse, Tuesday, November 29th, 6:30pm CT, ESPN
- Status
Illinois 74-64.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Many underestimate me at first glance. Especially as I age.
I’m more interested in how many points they let the other team put on the board, and given their pace of play they’ve been middling at best so far this year in that category. Anyway, we’re about seven hours and thirty-seven minutes from finding out.
My son-in-law is a huge Syracuse fan (that's where he is from). He saw a line -12.5. He has called his brothers-in-laws to put a lot of money on ILL. He told me last week if the line was less than 15 he would bet heavy on ILL. He is a solid basketball fan in general. He know how good ILL is and how BAD Syracuse is. BTW, most of my family is east. They have always been Big East and now ACC fans, but they have all hated Boeheim forever.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
That Arizona game last year was so good
One of the few losses I can rewatch just bc what a great game it was
I checked with Siri this morning. She said those in the know say Illinois by 12.5. And don't doubt Siri.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This will only be our third meeting all-time vs. Syracuse, with anyone old enough (unfortunately, this does not include me!) obviously remembering a great Elite Eight victory in 1989 for the Flyin' Illini! Interestingly, Illinois will be ranked in the top 20 for all four matchups historically, including 2022-23:
2022-23: Syracuse at #16 Illinois in Champaign, IL (Big Ten/ACC Challenge)
1995-96: #13 Syracuse 75, #12 Illinois 64 in Honolulu, HI (Rainbow Classic)
1988-89: (1) #3 Illinois 89, (2) #7 Syracuse 86 in Minneapolis, MN (Elite Eight)
1978-79: #15 Illinois 64, #8 Syracuse 61 in Lexington, KY (Kentucky Invitational)
By the way, I never realized how epically we collapsed in the 1979 season ... holy moly! 15-0 (3-0) on January 13th, ranked #4 in the nation and just beat Magic Johnson and #1 Michigan State ... we then lost in OT to unranked Ohio State in Champaign and lost 11 of our final 15 games (including our last 5 in a row) to finish unranked at 19-11 (7-11). That's some 2011 Illinois football-level loss of mojo!
2022-23: Syracuse at #16 Illinois in Champaign, IL (Big Ten/ACC Challenge)
1995-96: #13 Syracuse 75, #12 Illinois 64 in Honolulu, HI (Rainbow Classic)
1988-89: (1) #3 Illinois 89, (2) #7 Syracuse 86 in Minneapolis, MN (Elite Eight)
1978-79: #15 Illinois 64, #8 Syracuse 61 in Lexington, KY (Kentucky Invitational)
By the way, I never realized how epically we collapsed in the 1979 season ... holy moly! 15-0 (3-0) on January 13th, ranked #4 in the nation and just beat Magic Johnson and #1 Michigan State ... we then lost in OT to unranked Ohio State in Champaign and lost 11 of our final 15 games (including our last 5 in a row) to finish unranked at 19-11 (7-11). That's some 2011 Illinois football-level loss of mojo!
OnlyOrange
- Belleville, IL
Great info, thx for sharing. That collapse reminds me of the BP43 year after we beat the Buckeyes, and then won like 3 games the rest of the year. Painful.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
In 1979 our point guard - Steve Lanter - got hurt the week after the MSU game and we were never able to overcome it. We were deep at forward, but thin at guard. MSU was #1, we were #3 for that January conference clash (The Eddie Game).
My freshman year.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
One of my earlier memories as a young Illini fan was the 2002-03 Big Ten/ACC Challenge where we absolutely dismantled #12 North Carolina at Assembly Hall in what was the freshman year for the Dee/Deron/James trio. Looking back, compared to the crazy success we had in that era, the 2003 team really seemed to sort of underachieve in the end and never truly click like the teams before it and after it were able to.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
That '02-'03 team didn't underachieve. They lost by a single point at Wisc, which determined the BT reg season title. Then they smoked OSU in the BTT finals. Their misfortune was to run into a red-hot-shooting Notre Dame team in the second round of The Dance. I remember that game (painfully.) That was Brian Cook's senior year and Dee's frosh year. Dee led us at the point. It was an excellent team wire-to-wire.
Its five BT losses were on the road against strong teams, and they destroyed NC and Miznoz, both of which were #12 and #11 at the time. As I recall, that Braggin' Rights beating was especially sweet.
I remember that Wisconsin loss determining the BT title. During the game I was on a long Weds night flight to Salt Lake City to go skiing for the weekend. Got off the plane, walked into the terminal and over to a TV as Wisconsin sunk the winning FTs. Then a long Illini inbound play went to Cook, whose shot wasn't in time. A complete drag to begin a weekend of recreation. I still remember, vividly, standing in front of that TV monitor in the SLC airport and my heart sinking when we lost.
But there was a ton of snow up in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and the BTT title a week later, so there's that consolation.
IIRC that was the year that IU fired Bob Knight in the fall and Mike Davis took IU (inexplicably) to the title game. I give my Maryland friends a hard time about their title that year: it was against the weakest title game competition I'd ever seen.
[EDIT: I just looked up that ND box score. They rained threes, 13-24 from 3 pt range. We we 5-17. *shudder*]
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I'll just take a WIN. These games against disciplined teams (Virginia) early in the season can be very tough to win for a slightly disorganized, high-turn over, poor foul-shooting team of new players. Boeheim, though a lumparsche, knows how to coach and can milk the clock and the referees to keep it close.
I've seen too many of these go down to the wire... That said, this game, like Va, will help us immensely later in the season for grind-it-out games against Purdue, MSU, PSU, Rutgers etc.
GO ILLINI!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
^ Yeah, I guess I just remember being scared to death by our close win in the First Round and then SO bummed out as I listened to us lose to Notre Dame on the radio in the car. I really thought that team was going to make at least the Sweet Sixteen, but I guess that's March Madness.
I remember watching the Wisconsin loss like it was yesterday. As a little kid, I was devastated, and my dad asked me to think of how Dee Brown feels (who got the late foul called on him) and that he was sure Dee would be back ready to go for the BTT and NCAAs, so that's the attitude I should take!
I remember watching the Wisconsin loss like it was yesterday. As a little kid, I was devastated, and my dad asked me to think of how Dee Brown feels (who got the late foul called on him) and that he was sure Dee would be back ready to go for the BTT and NCAAs, so that's the attitude I should take!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
One of our most epic Fake Comebacks of all-time, lol.
Umm…. I might just be a semi driver, and not too bright, but isn’t it the FOURTH meeting?
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
In retrospect, my time was better spent isolated on the plane for those two hours. I would have developed hypertension watching that game.^ Yeah, I guess I just remember being scared to death by our close win in the First Round and then SO bummed out as I listened to us lose to Notre Dame on the radio in the car. I really thought that team was going to make at least the Sweet Sixteen, but I guess that's March Madness.
I remember watching the Wisconsin loss like it was yesterday. As a little kid, I was devastated, and my dad asked me to think of how Dee Brown feels (who got the late foul called on him) and that he was sure Dee would be back ready to go for the BTT and NCAAs, so that's the attitude I should take!
And I was completely mistaken about Bob Knight's firing. That was in Fall 2000, two years earlier.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Lol, correct I was going to say we have played three times and this is our fourth meeting and the ADD kicked in.
name checks out
- Status