Saw Keaton’s postgame interview and just the way he conducts himself makes me proud. Just a terrific young man. Many of the Illini fans can take lessons from him
UCLA 95, Illinois 94 OT Postgame
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On target.
Two things we learned (AGAIN) last night...
The Illini have terrible interior defense. This has been a problem all season. The Illini interior defense can best be known as Hot Knife Through Butter.
The Illini had better not let the game get into overtime because They do not know how to close out these extra-time games. If tied at regulation... just concede, shake hands, and nobody gets hurt.
And perhaps a third thing we learned... that the Illini can stop playing about as quickly as when they are clicking.
And also... that UCLA did not quit on this game when it would have been so easy to.
After grabbing a commanding 33-10 lead and blowing UCLA off their home floor... the Illini went quickly to sleep and allowed UCLA to come fast alive. UCLA then outscored the Illini 46 to 23 to level the game at 56 with nearly 15 full minutes left to play. The Illini could never grab control of the game again.
And then... the final possession of the game when UCLA was allowed to go the length of the floor and barge in through the front door and send the Illini to another frustrating prime-time overtime loss.
This is yet another concerning loss from an talented group of Illini that just sometimes can’t seem to get out of their own way.
And what could have been an epic West Coast trip turned itself into a bad Pacific sunset.
The Illini have terrible interior defense. This has been a problem all season. The Illini interior defense can best be known as Hot Knife Through Butter.
The Illini had better not let the game get into overtime because They do not know how to close out these extra-time games. If tied at regulation... just concede, shake hands, and nobody gets hurt.
And perhaps a third thing we learned... that the Illini can stop playing about as quickly as when they are clicking.
And also... that UCLA did not quit on this game when it would have been so easy to.
After grabbing a commanding 33-10 lead and blowing UCLA off their home floor... the Illini went quickly to sleep and allowed UCLA to come fast alive. UCLA then outscored the Illini 46 to 23 to level the game at 56 with nearly 15 full minutes left to play. The Illini could never grab control of the game again.
And then... the final possession of the game when UCLA was allowed to go the length of the floor and barge in through the front door and send the Illini to another frustrating prime-time overtime loss.
This is yet another concerning loss from an talented group of Illini that just sometimes can’t seem to get out of their own way.
And what could have been an epic West Coast trip turned itself into a bad Pacific sunset.
Just watched the last play replay again. WTF was Boswell doing? He may as well have not even been on the court. Nowhere near Dent and hardly tried to get in front of him.
I’m so sick of blowing these games that make a huge difference on where we get seeding in March.
We could end up a 4 seed playing AZ, Duke or Michigan in the second round if we aren’t careful
I’m so sick of blowing these games that make a huge difference on where we get seeding in March.
We could end up a 4 seed playing AZ, Duke or Michigan in the second round if we aren’t careful
I woke up still mad as hell.
A possible one seed and an outside shot at the league title went by the wayside last night IMO.
I'm morbidly curious to see what happens in the big dance this year for us. I think it's a huge year for Brad in that regard, and I'll keep any other thoughts on it to myself until we see what unfolds.
We could lose 699-1 vs Tennessee Tech and it won't matter. Read his new extension. So, whatever happens, doesn't matter, which I'm thankful for. He's can't look and we're not selling. We can stop that a month in advance.
Let’s not go overboard on the OT stuff. There is an element of randomness and things haven’t gone our way. If Z block is properly called…if the clock has 0.5 seconds less on it….etc. This team has shown plenty of clutch playmaking and maturity in games that they closed out before OT.
And they did dig to get it tied when many teams would have folded after the run UCLA went on. UCLA stopped a massive Illini onslaught but then Illinois did the same thing.
Plain and simple there is no excuse to not make the second weekend this year. If we don’t, we’re going to be stuck with some very sobering and humble thoughts.
I believe we will, as long as we don’t end up dropping below a 3 seed
Having slept on it, and upon further reflection…I got nuthin’
I thought they called a foul there on Ben. While I agree big Z and Ben blocked him clean, you could make a case where Ben's lower body got under Perry a bit and it could be called a foul. The issue with that is they rarely call that crap. These gifs don't show the lower contact from Ben though.
I think we know how this ends.
Just some infuriating losses this season outside of the Uconn game. As Brad mentioned in the postgame, there have been so many chances to close games that we just haven't taken advantage of. We make 1 more shot, 1 more free throw, get 1 more rebound, 1 more stop, a certain call is made or not made. That's the game of basketball I guess. The only silverlining is that teams either have to shoot lights out or get some questionable calls in order to beat us. Credit to UCLA they did/got both.
That said, I have no clue what we were doing on that final possession. Brad said they discussed that exact play in the timeout, and we still blew it. If Keaton knows the screen is coming, go around it. Andrej just badly out of position and let Dent go right by him, at least body him a little. Big Z.. I'm not sure what that defense was, just jump into the air and hope you distract him enough to miss a wide open layup?
Need to learn from these losses at some point and close games out in the tournament. Just maddening.
That said, I have no clue what we were doing on that final possession. Brad said they discussed that exact play in the timeout, and we still blew it. If Keaton knows the screen is coming, go around it. Andrej just badly out of position and let Dent go right by him, at least body him a little. Big Z.. I'm not sure what that defense was, just jump into the air and hope you distract him enough to miss a wide open layup?
Need to learn from these losses at some point and close games out in the tournament. Just maddening.
They called it on humrichous
That honestly looks like the players were told before the play “Just don’t foul”, and that’s how they played that possession.
It was a good finish by Dent. Easy dribbling thru the defense but lot of guys would probdbly choke the layup
Your absolutely right that is why even up by 23 you can't stop and you can't lose focus... We flew too close to the
... and feel back down to Earth...We were humbled... know your part in it... get down on your knees today and repent!!!... Beg all mighty God for forgiveness 
... Then you pick yourself up and keep fighting... ILL 3 OT loses is acceptable but another OT loses is not
... Then you pick yourself up and keep fighting... ILL 3 OT loses is acceptable but another OT loses is notI slept on it.. I'm less mad (because at the end of the day it's just sports). But I still don't feel any better about it.
I know UCLA had a lot to play for-but so did we. A 2 seed on the line and we choked it away.
I know UCLA had a lot to play for-but so did we. A 2 seed on the line and we choked it away.
True, but they easily got the ball to Dent without the guy running the baseline. We needed to front Dent without a guy behind to make it harder and longer to get the play started. We were way out of position.
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