Purdue 77, Illinois 71 Postgame

#353      
had to follow the game through updates on the score, only concerned now with Shannon and if he is alright. Sure sounds like the Assembly Hall was rocking, love that
 
#354      
There’s one play that really stuck with me all last night and into today when Edey took 3 to 4 steps across the lane to put his hook shot up. It seriously looked like that scene from Semi Pro when Jackie Moon gets called for a travel.
 
#356      
Observation: In 1st, PU did not 'press'. In 2nd, on many possessions we didn't start our offense until 14-17 seconds. MD would get ball 3 feet inbound and PU had 1 man on him; MD brought up slowly and then sometimes 'backed down' starting at half court and then passed. In last 5 min, JH came in backcourt only once to get inbound and we had in frontcourt by 27 and a couple of times CH set a screen. This has happened in previous games, is easy for teams to copy putting one man on MD; we have also shown someone else (JH, TR, ...) coming into backcourt to get inbound easily fixes this.

Our ability to play under and around Edey at the rim was outstanding

Crowd was fantastic - first 5 minutes and last 5 minutes were really loud with the whole crowd standing, clapping, and yelling nearly non-stop. I thought we would win when we tied at 64. Crowd was really angry at refs, myself included - PU got away with so much but we were not.
 
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#357      
The first rounds of the women's and men's Big Ten Tournament are being aired on Peacock from what they said on last night's broadcast.

So then after the so called “Weakling Wednesday” games it’s…

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#358      
Sleepers called it. One player is going to get into foul trouble and that will be the difference in the game. TJ got that ridiculous 2nd foul with 10 min left in the first. Being on the bench so long really affected the rest of his game...
Edey should have had 4 fouls with 10 min left on that hawkins "block". That could have allowed us to defend the 3 ball a little better and get Ty some more minutes.

Overall though, any little thing could've helped and at the end of the day, a game is a collection of these little moments. We were the better team in the first half and they made it up in the 2nd.
I'll preface this by saying that Purdue played a great 2nd Half and simply drained their open threes and we didn't and that pretty much decided the game. Nothing to hang our heads about- we played great, more often than not you lose to a 1 seed who shoots over 50% from 3. Just the way it is.

But to your point, I did think that the terrible calls in this game seemed to all favor Purdue and all came at crushing times. And credit to Purdue- every time they got one of those awful calls, they immediately turned it into about 2.5pts per ensuing possession. From the TSJ steal that he got called for as a 2nd foul when we were up 10, to the all hand "block" by Edey that would've given him his 4th, to the kicked ball/touch foul off ball play that should've given us possession in a 1 possession game late instead of putting us down 5, each one of those calls were just killer, giving Purdue an extra possessions resulting in a big point and game management swing. It was frustrating for sure. At the same time, when you need a critical stop, you've gotta get the rebound. And if we get both hands on even 1 of those 3 offensive rebounds Purdue had that effectively closed out the game, that would have also been anywhere from a 3 to 6pt swing. Some chances were stolen from us by the refs, yes, but we also gave some critical ones away, and Purdue cashed those as well. And that’s what good teams do- they take every mistake and put it in the basket. 2005 Arizona knows that all too well.

We played really well and lost. The key is, if we have learned how to defend again, which is what it seemed like this game, we really can make a serious run. Just have to hope this was the it finally clicked game and we never look back
 
#359      
I am still a bit bummed about last night. Feel like that game was winnable. They had some pretty good success defending Edey, especially after the poor defensive outings we've had in the last month.

I don't understand why we get away from shooting threes in the second half of games. Feels like we drain a bunch in the first half and then intentionally turn the tap off. I know we have a lot of successful shotmakers and guys who can get to the rim, but if it's not there, we should be firing away. Especially when Purdue doesn't have the best perimeter defense. Should be raining threes on them (after all, it was how Northwestern beat them).

TSJ's defense on Smith on that last three was unacceptable. When you have the ability to give up a foul and there's 9 seconds on the shot clock, you absolutely cannot give up a three there. Under 10, you body him up, make him make a decision with passing the basketball or driving it. You don't even have to swat at it. Just inch closer. If you have a hand in his face and he still drains it, you tip your cap and call it a night. But you don't give him an iota of space and let him shoot one before you're ready.

As good as this team is, they haven't figured out how to close, and that's disappointing.
 
#360      
Ultimately, outside of pride and wanting to take down a top 5 team and feeling more confident as a fan base going into the tournament....an L or a W didn't really matter.

Unless NW pulls a stunner, we're going to finish 2nd in the conference, we're going to be the #2 seed in the conference and it would have taken beating Iowa and getting to the championship game to get us deep into the discussion for a #3 seed.

If we win our first round game, whether we play a #5 or a #6....it really doesn't matter. It's still a top 25 caliber team on a neutral court.

It's more of a bummer that we'll get over versus a game that had huge implications on our season.
 
#361      
But to your point, I did think that the terrible calls in this game seemed to all favor Purdue and all came at crushing times. And credit to Purdue- every time they got one of those awful calls, they immediately turned it into about 2.5pts per ensuing possession.
This^There was not a lot of horrible calls, but all of them went in Purdue's favor, resulted in points for Purdue, and were massive momentum swingers. Just was not meant to be for us last night. Them shooting 8/10 from three and us 0/6 likely does not happen very often. On to the next, let's beat Iowa
 
#362      

DReq

Always Illini
Central Illinois
While this was a frustrating result I thought our play was excellent. Calls or no-calls by officials in B1G basketball have become a real mystery but that is part of the game these days. I take hope from the 1989 season (I know several of you remember that season well) in which we beat Michigan twice during the season and lost to them in the Final Four semis. The generally agreed explanation was that it is very hard to beat a good team three times in the same season. We lost that one. This year is ours to turn that story around the other way. Third time is a charm.
 
#363      
It was a great game to watch. We just couldn’t put the dagger in them. No other team has an Edey. The way we played last night we beat 95% of the teams in the country. I still think let Dey go and guard the 3pt line. I thought we had them when we got even in the 2nd half.
 
#365      
Off night from TSJ 3 of 11 and 0 of 4 from 3. Smith and Gillis were huge. Domask played his tail off. I hope we get em again in Minnesota and TSJ and Domask both play well.

Refs didn't cost us the game but the 2nd foul on TSJ and non call on edy when he foul Hawkins were huge too. Still can allow Smith those fairly clean looks as the clock is running out.
Get up on Smith and Loyer and make them shoot pull-up 2-pointers! Trading 4 two point baskets for the 4 three point baskets they got changes the end of the game.
 
#366      
Not only do we stagnate when we clear the lane for MD so much, we aren't in position to rebound either.
Underwood's substitutions were mind boggling as usual. Dain, Q, Ty ???
For the record, I am a big Underwood fan and love ALL our players.

However...

Quincy was our leading scorer in the first half with 10 points in 15 minutes, but only played 9 minutes in the second half.

Ty didn't miss a shot and had 3 rebounds in only 8 second half minutes.

Goode and Harmon played 11 minutes each in the second half. Harmon had 1 rebound and 1 block. Goode had no stats.

Dain played 20 seconds in the second half.
 
#367      
This^There was not a lot of horrible calls, but all of them went in Purdue's favor, resulted in points for Purdue, and were massive momentum swingers. Just was not meant to be for us last night. Them shooting 8/10 from three and us 0/6 likely does not happen very often. On to the next, let's beat Iowa
I'm hoping Brad has been playing the long game, sacrificing all of those not meant for us nights in the regular season so we have a healthy dose of excellent in March

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#368      
Does anyone know if there is a reason to retain Peacock for any tourney action?
Depends. I got the 1 year deal for $20 but i had it before as part of my HOA so knew there were things I enjoy.

If you like any old nbc comedies like the office, parks and rec, 30 rock, etc they are there with some extra content

I will be watching the John wick spin on off series because I like those movies. Some other exclusive TV shows (I watched macgruber and twisted metal and it was silly and fun)

Some decent movies..I watched Oppenheimer this past Sunday as it was exclusively on there there are a few on there that are good choices.

I frankly have too many services anyway so I can only use and view so much (since Illinois basketball is priority 1) so was fine when it went away as no longer part of my HOA but was ok with forking over $20 for 1 year.
 
#369      
Get up on Smith and Loyer and make them shoot pull-up 2-pointers! Trading 4 two point baskets for the 4 three point baskets they got changes the end of the game.
Well easier said than done if they are quicker and more agile than our defenders. Which they are with who we had on them. Quincy switched and others n Smith shook em pretty easily. Smaller quicker guards and bigs have killed us with who we have tried to stop em with far too often.
 
#370      
I am still a bit bummed about last night. Feel like that game was winnable. They had some pretty good success defending Edey, especially after the poor defensive outings we've had in the last month.

I don't understand why we get away from shooting threes in the second half of games. Feels like we drain a bunch in the first half and then intentionally turn the tap off. I know we have a lot of successful shotmakers and guys who can get to the rim, but if it's not there, we should be firing away. Especially when Purdue doesn't have the best perimeter defense. Should be raining threes on them (after all, it was how Northwestern beat them).

TSJ's defense on Smith on that last three was unacceptable. When you have the ability to give up a foul and there's 9 seconds on the shot clock, you absolutely cannot give up a three there. Under 10, you body him up, make him make a decision with passing the basketball or driving it. You don't even have to swat at it. Just inch closer. If you have a hand in his face and he still drains it, you tip your cap and call it a night. But you don't give him an iota of space and let him shoot one before you're ready.

As good as this team is, they haven't figured out how to close, and that's disappointing.
I didnt feel that way last night. I have been critical recently on this topic. But last night was DEFINITELY not Penn State for example…which was a complete implosion and total amateur hour…(also there were others.)

We seemed more cohesive and organized…For example with a little more than .40 sec left they wasted no time trying to trap. (With no indecision.) That’s what a lot of coaches would do there…but not all. It’s a coaching philosophy thing…some might have fouled immediatly to extend…I don’t think you want it to look intentional there personally.( What we tried darn near worked. But then pretty soon after if that doesn’t work you’ve got to be fouling of course.

Anyways, I was okay with what we tried. It was a pretty sound philosophy…and my main point is…it went down as if the staff’s expectations had been clearly defined/ communicated to the players. I dunno if it was. But that is how it seemed.

We just needed a little more luck…and someone to step up that isn’t named Domask to be a cutthroat, cold-blooded icy-veined killer for the last 2:30.
 
#372      
Get up on Smith and Loyer and make them shoot pull-up 2-pointers! Trading 4 two point baskets for the 4 three point baskets they got changes the end of the game.
Despite the loss, I think we just gave teams a lot of tape on how to stop Purdue. The question is whether they have the personnel to pull it off. The revelation to me was the Ty vs. Smith defensive possessions in the first half. Ty's size and physicality, really seemed to bother Braden. Completely bottled him up, forcing him to give up the dribble 30ft from the basket to another guard. And the best way to stop a big like Edey and great 3pt shooters is to deny the entry and the ball movement from the PG.

As well on offense, the motion and speed of the Illini offense really affected Edey and got him moving out of position and his lateral recovery speed is not great. That opens up weak side crashing of the board for offensive rebounds

This Purdue team has a lot of strengths, but can't help but think Houston would be a doomsday matchup for them. Luckily they won't have to face them until the Final 4. But a team that can emulate them in ways could cause Purdue some early round issues. Box up Smith and you have a shot in my opinion
 
#373      
borderline dead horse beating, but the post doubles that led to open threes were the difference in this game.

Yeah they got some lucky 50/50 bounces, yeah they made us pay for mistakes, but that early 2nd half period where they killed us after we post trapped was killer.

I know Coleman got man handled, but I thought he did pretty good. Edey was showing some serious fatigue signs late game.
 
#374      
It's not hard to understand. Purdue is a better team and if the two teams play in the BTT Illinois is a good bet the result will be similar. Not the way any of us want it to be but pretty much accurate, nonetheless.
 
#375      
I thought the refs were bad, but at the end of the day Purdue knocked down big 3 after big 3 in the second half, got every loose ball, and offensively nobody stepped up outside of Domask in the 2nd half.

Guerrier disappeared after a couple early 3s, Harmon did nothing and missed a real good look late that would have put us up 1, and Goode was non-existent. Hawkins was ok in the 2nd half but Shannon never really exerted his will on the game like he is capable of(especially with Smith on him).

If we end up playing them again, I'd like to see Shannon on the left side of the court and just aggressively go baseline if they're going to try to guard him with Smith. He reaches a lot but he's simply not quick enough to stay with Shannon(Domask blew by him a few times).
Overall, solid effort by Illini against perhaps the best team in the nation, which shot lights out in second half from beyond the arc. We hung tough, but extremely difficult to win when a team shoots incredibly well on treys.
Shannon picked a really bad time to have his worst game of the season. Don't understand why he wasn't more aggressive with a small guard on him (Smith).

But again have to question Underwood's decision making. Really upset that he benched Shannon for last eight minutes of the first half, especially when Edey was out for some of that time and TSJ could've had easier time driving inside. I can see sitting him for 2-3 minutes, but we had lead during that time and could've enlarged it to 10-12 points by halftime. He's a veteran player and knows how to avoid foul trouble when he needs to. Note that he played entire second half without getting another foul.

Agree with many posting that doesn't make sense to have Goode in game at end instead of Rodgers. Sure could've used Ty's rebounding & defense last few minutes. Don't get Goode playing 19 minutes to Rodgers' 18 and really don't understand Dainja playing only six minutes. His size and quickness inside would've been more likely to get Edey in foul trouble if he had played more.