Rutgers 91, Illinois 88 Postgame

Had a feeling this would be the outcome.
From my vantage point:
Adam Miller doesn’t deserve to start at this point. Minutes are earned and he isn’t earning them. He was invisible!
And the Oscar goes to: The entire Rutgers team.
Constantly flipping and selling non fouls. However it worked. They went to the line TWICE AS MANY TIMES AS WE DID.
Frazier, Damonte, offensively fall asleep for far too many stretches.
We went away from the three far too much.
The rebounding was terrible. Often there would be four players from Rutgers to our two crashing the boards.
Free throws, free throws, free throws.
Can some for the love of god teach Kofi a ball and head fake!!!! I am begging anyone who will listen.
Almost no visible adjustments I could see from the coaching staff. Left Miller in far to long. Curbelo needs to be out there more.
Didn’t press the ball half or full court but a few times. Didn’t switch defenses the entire game. They got to much penetration and second looks, and close to 30 foul shots.
Sloppy passing.
This team needs to learn how to play together.
Next games starting five should be Frazier, Curbelo, Ayo, Kofi, and Gorgi.
williams and Miller in to rotate. Hawkins and Gradison in for the 4 and 5.
This is conference time. Give me the best chance to win from the tip. If they get in foul trouble switch to a four guard line up.
I love Williams and Miller. But there is no time to waste. We need defense when we are up. Not 10 behind. Then we need our scorers. And Damonte is not a huge scoring threat and Miller, I have no clue what’s going on with him. This game he literally didn’t show up.
The coaching was disappointing too. Obviously, the couldn’t stop their guards, so why not switch to 1-3-1, or a box and 1, or another zone? Nothing. Why not press? Why not slow down the game? Run more set plays, high lows, ball screens?
This team needs to play smarter, more fundamental basketball. Players need to stop disappearing for stretches, make your damn free throws, box out and sworn the boards, and make better passes.
The officiating seemed out of balance when one team goes to the line twice as many times. However, Rutgers isn’t a good FT shooting team.
Accept for today. Of course when you get to the line twice as many times it kind of evens that out.
This team can be good. But they better all show up to play. After two conference games they are.500. Plenty time to right the ship. But man, this is getting old quick. Because these losses are mostly self inflicted. If I was Underwood, I would be livid! But he needs to do better as well.
Well, on to the next one.
Let’s hope they make some adjustments and we get another W.
Go Illini!!

Lexis20 said:

Anybody know the status of BBV? Put a 6'8" rebounder with a 3 point shot in this lineup and thee dynamic is much different.

Click to expand...

One of my biggest disappointments for the program is that injuries to BBV have kept the skill development of a sorely needed type of player muted for two seasons. Both BBV and Hutcherson could be making much needed contributions to this team and instead are neither contributing or, in the case of AH, even having the opportunity to work on their game. Hope to see BBV soon but he is not likely to get much PT this year. Hutch may never see the floor. Quite sad, but still pulling for them both.

Not sure anyone knows any recent news on BBV but a couple of weeks ago it was reported pre-game that he was suited up for shoot-around and dressed out for the game. Also it was commented that the staff is not going to rush his return. That is all I have seen.

Gotta say guys.
Kofi just played against one of the best defensive, rebounding centers in the country.
That had a lot to do with the loss.
Harper Jr is the best wing in the league.
You guys are good

Zappaa said:

Gotta say guys.
Kofi just played against one of the best defensive, rebounding centers in the country.
That had a lot to do with the loss.
Harper Jr is the best wing in the league.
You guys are good

Click to expand...

Totally fair, Rutgers is really good no question. I pretty much see the same team as last year for Illinois minus a tough kid in Feliz. Illinois has a lot of work to do to win games in this conference. Rutgers and Illinois are very similar as they were last year.

Hope4better said:

how many freshmen did you see Rutgers relying on

Click to expand...

Besides the Omoruyi, there's Mawot, but he's in a walking boot since last week.

Curbelo and Miller have to learn how to play D without fouling. Curbelo would have been on the floor more if he didn't get whistled for a couple touch fouls early. Same with DMFW. Doesn't matter which one starts and which comes off the bench. This team struggles when DMFW is on the bench and we rely heavily on two freshman. Then your next guy off the bench, Hawkins, is also a freshman.

It's going to take time. Just like last year. I expect this to be a much better team defensively and mentally by the second half of the season.

skyIdub said:

Curbelo and Miller have to learn how to play D without fouling. Curbelo would have been on the floor more if he didn't get whistled for a couple touch fouls early. Same with DMFW. Doesn't matter which one starts and which comes off the bench. This team struggles when DMFW is on the bench and we rely heavily on two freshman. Then your next guy off the bench, Hawkins, is also a freshman.

It's going to take time. Just like last year. I expect this to be a much better team defensively and mentally by the second half of the season.

Click to expand...

yeah...this is a team that would have hugely benefitted from a "normal" year. 5-6 more games against cupcakes like usual and some kinks get worked out before b10 play, just given the rotation and that 2 guys we thought would be in the rotation (BBV and hutch) arent available.

Sure couldve used a 6'8, 240 guy on hte boards (BBV) in this one

Young is a transfer from Texas and is really good. They had Young transfer in we had Griffin transfer out.

skyIdub said:

It's going to take time. Just like last year.

Click to expand...

It was painful last year too. We were no where near as good through the non-conf as we were later.

This was the first game this season where I wanted to turn it off because the officiating was so bad. It was actually a combination of bad officiating that led to our guys standing around, not knowing if they could play ball without the refs stopping them. I think it was 9-3 at one point with like 12 minutes to play. You're not going to win a game on the road when they're in the double bonus that early. Dakich makes it worse, of course with his hap-hazard second-guessing and highly opinionated commentary.

As much as I didn't care for the officiating, it's something guys gotta get used to, and play through. I thought Underwood would call a time out to help them refocus, but it's hard to know what would have worked. They were out of rhythm for several minutes though, and had trouble battling back with the mistakes they made. Underwood didn't really go to the bench --basically a 7 man rotation, with Trent and Ayo essentially in the whole game.

One that got away, definitely, but our losses have all been to tournament caliber teams.

Every loss this year started in the second half. Honest question for those basketball minds that are smarter than mine.

Is Underwood getting out coached and crushed from adjustments after the half?

FLIllini said:

The team definitely has flaws. We have trouble getting everyone firing on all cylinders at the same time. We are not a good free throw shooting team for some reason, and we are way too loose with the ball at times. Hopefully, that will not be the case as guys get more comfortable in their roles and gain experience.

It is a broken record, I know, and I know the game is sometimes difficult to officiate. But, a 21 attempt discrepancy at the free throw line suggests much more than one team playing more aggressively or better than the other. I'm sorry, but until the league decides that officiating must get better, the big ten will continue to have teams that have 5-8 losses on the year and receive a 4-8 tournament seed as a result. I know...there are occasional 1/2 seeds, but the officiating affects the flow and results of way too many games and the league will go another 20 years without a national champion until somebody in authority decides that the Big10 must match the most talented players in the nation with the best officiating talent - or at least much better. Just my opinion.....and I will not post another time about officiating the rest of the year. But it's to a point where it is just not enjoyable watching any games we play away from home. There were very few fouls called in the first 15 minutes of the game and it was so enjoyable to watch, then the whistles started. Sorry for the rant, but it is so frustrating to see us playing well and then the fouls start coming out of nowhere and usually one direction and the flow to the game completely stops. I know we did not play well in the second half but I feel like that was partly not all on our guys.

Click to expand...

You are on point and I have never liked the official card but it's a problem and has been!!
Road in the B1G is different for that reason ONLY.
#Keepitclose

Our team does not function when either Curbelo or Williams are hindered by fouls. Our team also does not function well when Miller is providing nothing offensively. I don't lay this loss at the feet of any of those three players, since others could have played better and enabled us to win this game. It just highlights for me how reliant we are on those three to raise our collective floor and ceiling as a team.

And when you rely upon two freshman in the way we are trying to, there will be games like today. Curbelo, in particular, is indispensable. He can't foul out of a game like that. We need him too much on the floor.

CurbeloYourEnthusiasm said:

I agree. We have the potential to be alot better than last year if Curbelo can be that co-alpha of the team with Ayo, but if he's just going to be a guy off the bench, then all we've done is swapped Griffin/Feliz for Miller, and that's a net loss. I think most of us counted on Kofi to be lot better this year than he's been, but he's made no progress since last season. If he's the same player, then the team leap is going to have to come from Curbelo. If Curbelo's only getting 20 minutes a game, then we aren't better than last year.

Click to expand...

Kofi is up 3.5 points and a rebound per game.

No complaints. I thought we played a very solid game against a tough opponent at their place. That should theoretically be our toughest test out of the first 10 conference games. I think we'll now be favored in the next 8, up until we face MSU away.

CurbeloYourEnthusiasm said:

I agree. We have the potential to be alot better than last year if Curbelo can be that co-alpha of the team with Ayo, but if he's just going to be a guy off the bench, then all we've done is swapped Griffin/Feliz for Miller, and that's a net loss. I think most of us counted on Kofi to be lot better this year than he's been, but he's made no progress since last season. If he's the same player, then the team leap is going to have to come from Curbelo. If Curbelo's only getting 20 minutes a game, then we aren't better than last year.

Click to expand...

LOLD at your username.

But dang, kofi is averaging 17 and 10 essentially and we've only played two cupcakes......and 25 and 12 average in the two B10 games. Maybe he could be better, but who on this board was predicting 17 and 10 or 25 and 12? I mean i can see someone asking him to be better, but A LOT better may be pushing it.

I think it’s time to temper the Adam Miller expectations. He’s lost right now. I don’t think we have to worry about one and done or two and done for that matter.

Won every game we were favored in, lost every game we've been underdogs in save @Duke. Seems like we are pretty much where we should be (maybe better). I know the AP poll has made us think we are a top 10 or even top 5 team nationally, but I think about 15 and top 4 in the B1G is right where we should be.

LostinNebraska said:

We barely got edged out on rebounding margin.

Oh, he hustled alright. One official in particular.

Click to expand...

Rutgers had 15 offensive rebounds. That's unacceptable and a recipe for losing.

On the plus side I liked what I saw offensively from Trent and Damonte today.

illini80 said:

Rutgers had 15 offensive rebounds. That's unacceptable and a recipe for losing.

Click to expand...

Yep. And if those offensive boards are happening right under the basket while both Kofi and Giorgi are in the game, then we are just getting outworked.

Loyalty After Dark! Lol earliest time I've said that!

Homecoming 2019 said:

Won every game we were favored in, lost every game we've been underdogs in save @Duke. Seems like we are pretty much where we should be (maybe better). I know the AP poll has made us think we are a top 10 or even top 5 team nationally, but I think about 15 and top 4 in the B1G is right where we should be.

Click to expand...

I mean that's more or less where we were last year. Serious question: if we continue to win every game we should win, lose every game we are projected to lose, and end up right where we were last year at 13-7 in B1G play, is that success or failure?

To my mind, that's failure. A team that returns 4/5 starters, including a potential national player of the year candidate, should be better than it was the year before.

I'd like to see coach and team aggressively address some issues that have cropped up with specific players. 1) Adam Miller is being outrebounded by Andre Curbelo by a wide margin. Adam must be challenged to be more than a standstill shooter or he sits. 2) Giorgi rebounds at the same rate as Andre Curbelo. Giorgi needs to stop telling jokes mid-game and instead get some rebounds. Mulcahy from Rutgers outrebounded combined Miller + Giorgi by 7 -4. That's not winning Big ten basketball.

Rutgers played the officials better than we did, and Mulcahy was living rent free in several of our players heads. Add their offensive rebounding advantage, and we were lucky to finish as close as we did.