Tennessee 86, Illinois 79 Postgame

#76      

OB positive

O
OB positive
Tough loss for the good guys but I like the not quit in this team. Guerrier was the only Illini that played well the entire game. TSJ and Domask had off shooting days with everyone else playing up and down and we still managed to stay in this game. The officiating was typical of what you might expect on the road. Tennessee does a good job of keeping you from doing the things on offense you want to do. Like another poster said, last years team would have folded and lost by 20+. I think we are going to be pretty salty by March and we are going to be one of those teams that they hope is not in their bracket.
 
#77      

tcb13

T
tcb13
Hook and hold, phantom foul when the player slipped, bad call on a block that should have been a charge, I dont love the volume of 3's, but I thought it hurt more that we had 2 or 3 times where we just gave a possession away by taking a contested 3 with no passing/movement at all.

Shannon didnt look like himself on offense, Domask had a regression to the mean type of game.

All that and yet it was a tight game the whole way.

I certainly would rather have won though.
 
#79      

Illini89

I
Illini89
The Galloping Ghost said:
2-3 out of the toughest part of our schedule. The goal is to make a run in March and this stretch has helped us build towards that. Tennessee is good and playing them at their place is tough. We’ll learn and grow from this. Wouldn’t mind the chance at revenge in the tourney on a neutral court.
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They are head and shoulders better then illinois
 
#84      

FreshlySqueezed

FreshlySqueezed
FreshlySqueezed
Illini89 said:
They are head and shoulders better then illinois
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James Van Der Beek Laughing GIF by The Ringer
 
#85      

Vinegarben

V
Vinegarben
Bright Spots-Hawkins and Guerrier played their best game to date. Free throw shooting was great for 2nd game in row. Turnovers were down -8. Took a punch got back up. Never gave up, fought to the end. Even though TJS never had his usual great game he still scored 22[he got to the basket especially late and got fouled.
Downside-After shooting 63% against FAU, which I didn't think they would repeat, they went back to tossing up 3's again. They need to be more disciplined and patient working the ball. Seemed like we got tired at the 10 minute mark of the 2nd half, we were outrebounding them at that point but eventually lost that by 9. Marcus had an off day buy 2 guys [Hawkins/ Guerrier]stepped up, just wasn't enough.
It seems funny how a game and emotion can turn on one play. I thought the big turning point was early in the 2nd half with Illini up by 5 when Rogers got called for a hook and hold. Tennessee got a technical foul shot and the ball, scored 3 points with clock off and it just seemed right there the momentum completely turned in favor of the Vols and the Illini never recovered.
Great game anyway, showed they can play with top team on road. Learn from mistakes and grow.
 
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#86      

JSpence

J
Evansville, IN
JSpence
MustangWally said:
36 3 point shots. Not how we win.
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Okay, I rag on the volume of 3-pt shots, but it was obvious that it WAS how we were going to win that game. A couple more fall (shot 25%) and we have a VERY different ball game. With three minutes to go, I would have liked them to shoot 45 if Tennessee hadn't been so dumb with fouls and the ball.
 
#88      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
I wrote this in game thread too, but it baffles me
how many possessions we have where 1 or no player gets no closer to basket than a foot inside the arc. And I don’t mean with the ball but at all.
 
#89      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
Well, I'll give my hot take for the game......................We had 3 fouls called in the first half and we ended up by 2........

We had over 3 fouls called in the first 5 minutes of the second half and it went ballistic from there.........

TSJ was getting mugged everytime he drove to the basket........Vescovi was undercutting every time on a rebound.....

The Doc didn't have his best day today...............................

Neither did the refs.............Barnes must have went to their room and wished them a Happy Holidays and gave them their early presents................There , I said it ............I really really did......................

BU's postgame interview..........................

It is hard to go onto the road and win against a top 25 team...........
rebounding was disappointing........................
Quincy had 22 pts , but our overall shooting was sub par...................
our defense was lacking and board better........................
Knecht is a top # 15 pick in the draft..................he doesn't guard that well but he can score almost at will.............
long streak of road games and we went 2-1.....today was a Quad 1 game...........
I like the week we had.................our RAC win was great..................
we need to fight and get better........................
finals week and we got a late start on our trip here to Knoxville..............

next up Colgate@ home..................

Chris-Maher_18_rev.gif
 
#90      

dbeverly26

dbeverly26
dbeverly26
illinigiant80 said:
Step up in competition?
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The last couple of games were played at a very fast pace so the D wasn’t as bad as it looks at first glance. Still not where you want it to be, but in both cases we didn’t rebound the way we should and gave up way too many free throws (34 today, high even counting the end of the game).

Wanted more out of them today but it’s still a solid B- all things considered.
 
#92      

illinigiant80

I
illinigiant80
OB positive said:
Tough loss for the good guys but I like the not quit in this team. Guerrier was the only Illini that played well the entire game. TSJ and Domask had off shooting days with everyone else playing up and down and we still managed to stay in this game. The officiating was typical of what you might expect on the road. Tennessee does a good job of keeping you from doing the things on offense you want to do. Like another poster said, last years team would have folded and lost by 20+. I think we are going to be pretty salty by March and we are going to be one of those teams that they hope is not in their bracket.
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I agree with your post except…. I think we are salty dawgs now, and teams already know that they have to bring their A game to beat the Illini.
 
#99      

purcy51

P
Nappanee, IN
purcy51
illini510 said:
A win would've it's a tall order on the road. Defense did not come out to play today. I think that was the main difference. This group can definitely score and hit 3's when needed but the defensive efficiency definitely took a hit today.

I did like that Guerrier and Hawkins were hitting their 3's today and that our guys were making their free throws. Guerrier and Rodgers in particular made the majority of their free throws, so that is improving as well. Nothing to get too upset about. I think we learned that our team can play with the top teams in the country and I'll take 2 out of 3 during this tough road/neutral site game stretch. I personally thought we'd go 1-2 or 0-3 so to end this stretch 2-1 is a win in my book

I'm a little worried that Dainja is kind of getting lost in the shuffle. We're going to need him for next year so hopefully Brad can find him some more mins so that he doesn't get disgruntled
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We need him this year. Sure, we rebound we'll as a team but the in games I've watched so far it seems we have no rim protector, especially during games like today.
However, I am extremely high on this team. As others have said, we were right there with our best players having off games. Watch out when TSJ, Domask and and one or two othe guys are all on fire in the same game. It's going to happen...soon.