USC 82, Illinois 72 Postgame

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#326      
80'sIllini
We would have won this game with KJ playing- more so for his ability to guard Claude.

So frustrating to have yet another guy have a career game against us with no in game adjustments. Their high ball screens always seemed to allow Claude to go one on one against our weaker individual defenders.

We flat out are not anything more than a mediocre 3 point shooting team that somewhat makes up for that by rebounding so well on offense( except this game). Maybe we should be more selective for when we take them.

Tomi and Will have regressed. Tomi is playing so soft- has to toughen up.

Hopefully this will add some humility and subsequent determined focus to the team going forward.
 
#327      
ILL25NOIS
I’m wondering who’s going to step up and be consistent while KJ figures this injury out. So bad I want to see Will really succeed but I feel like he’s so quick to heat check 3’s and I need to see him drive the ball.
 
#328      
SescIllini
Couple of years ago when Illinois was the #1 seed for the BIG Tourney, there bus was at the hotel very near game time. I thought maybe they had been dropped already, but later I found out they also had a late start to a morning game. They came out rusty, no or little warm up lost to #9 seed Indiana.
 
#329      
SescIllini
80'sIllini said:
We would have won this game with KJ playing- more so for his ability to guard Claude.

So frustrating to have yet another guy have a career game against us with no in game adjustments. Their high ball screens always seemed to allow Claude to go one on one against our weaker individual defenders.

We flat out are not anything more than a mediocre 3 point shooting team that somewhat makes up for that by rebounding so well on offense( except this game). Maybe we should be more selective for when we take them.

Tomi and Will have regressed. Tomi is playing so soft- has to toughen up.

Hopefully this will add some humility and subsequent determined focus to the team going forward.
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Davis and DGL gave us a good effort off the bench, but none of the starters made up for the abscence of KJ. The extra shots and minutes didn't add up to KJ average amongst the rest of the starters. USC at every facet turned off our abilities, once again missing wide open 3's is going to kill us. Especially if teams are going to pack it in and allow certain type of 3's (corner 3's).
 
#330      
Ryllini
alaskaillini said:
This was a classic trap game. Two big games on the road next week. Coming off a historic beat down of PSU. National media calling us the most talented team in the B1G, and a contender for a National Championship. I was worried going into the game. Looking flat and uninspired was not a surprise. The Illini just expected USC to lay down, but this is the B1G and no one lays down.
But this team is new/young, so this is part of the ongoing learning experience (about being EDGs).
You like learning experiences to come with a W not an L, but when BU doesn't consider playing KJ, has no warm ups, etc., it makes it seem that BU wanted this to be a challenge, and may have gotten more than he bargained for.
Remember the goal is in March Madness (and playing without TSJ last year helped the team grow into an Elite 8 team). Maybe this time without KJ helps us as well.
This game goes into the S#!t Happens category for me. Just get your head screwed back on straight and take the Hoosiers and Spartans to the woodshed next week. All will be forgiven.

One real positive - Ben continues to perform, and was maybe the best Illini player on the court today. That will be big down the stretch.
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Classic trap!
 
#331      
WyattEarp
number1IlliniFan said:
Underwood said in the post-game that Illinois skipped their shootaround today because of the early tip off. How does a Midwest team use the time excuse when a west coast team is tipping off at 9am their time? The guys have all day to sleep! Get them there in the regular routine even if it starts at 5 am. Underwood clearly believed USC would be a cake walk and allowed the team to believe that too by letting them sleep this morning. C'mon man!
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It’s not the end of the world. The sun will come up tomorrow…clunky games and goofy lopsided wins happen & often abound…past, present and future…blah bla blah…

…or so I told myself…as I was passing through the bargaining stage into acceptance at our complete lack of effort today…when I read this…

I’m frustrated all over again. Lol. Was our program from the top>down actually looking past an Eric Musselman-coached team? Wow.

I think I’ve had my fill of Brad pressers differentiating between “hard work” and “competing” for a while. He rightly harps on lack of effort when need-be…but then suddenly deems it too hard for everybody to get out of bed for a shoot around? Huh? (It’s not even that early.) I’m not so sure that’s a good thing to be modeling to players. Actions speak louder than words…something I’m sure he is full aware. I don’t get it at all.
 
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#332      
chiefini
Disclaimer: I did not read any of the game thread or this post game thread yet. I can pretty much guess what their vibe was/is. I did watch most of the game as I was preparing to host my family of 28 for my mom’s 99th birthday. It was a fun party, but it was the first time we had all been together since the party we had last year on January 7 for my mom’s 98th. To put everything in perspective, since that day, we lost my only brother (75 years old from a heart attack) and my only brother-in-law (69 years old from Stage 4 pancreatic cancer). Needless to say, while we celebrated my mom, we all had a lot of tears. It was only a game today, one of hopefully 30+. Life is too short to be stressed and negative over one game. Hug and enjoy your loved ones while you can…
 
#333      
IlliniKat91
chiefini said:
Disclaimer: I did not read any of the game thread or this post game thread yet. I can pretty much guess what their vibe was/is. I did watch most of the game as I was preparing to host my family of 28 for my mom’s 99th birthday. It was a fun party, but it was the first time we had all been together since the party we had last year on January 7 for my mom’s 98th. To put everything in perspective, since that day, we lost my only brother (75 years old from a heart attack) and my only brother-in-law (69 years old from Stage 4 pancreatic cancer). Needless to say, while we celebrated my mom, we all had a lot of tears. It was only a game today, one of hopefully 30+. Life is too short to be stressed and negative over one game. Hug and enjoy your loved ones while you can…
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I'm so glad you got to spend the day with loved ones celebrating your mom, and so sorry for the losses you've suffered this year
 
#336      
DevILLDawg
Only solace I've found in this loss is knowing Indiana is gonna get !!!! stomped this next week. Brad has been damn good at not losing 2 games in a row.
 
#340      
skyIdub
Ok...logged off, took a nap.


Still one of the worst home losses I've ever watched.

Maybe I should go to bed and try again tomorrow?

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#342      
Steelyunk
Oranges said:
Not arguing one way or another, but I do think it’s hilarious the general consensus on this board before the game was to play it safe and hold him out regardless
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I’m guilty of saying it. Such a bad game. I trust the analytics and all the three pointers - but when it works you get the Oregon game - when it doesn’t you get this. As badly as this went if you stop Claude’s free runs to the rim, I bet you still win this game.
 
#345      
jmm
gibb52 said:
Played the entire game in some kind of fog. Stupid shots, stupid turnovers, defensive lapses, poor rebounding, very little hustle. Horrible effort from the entire team.
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Which is why today I really missed that Brad of old. The one that would call a timeout and lose his !!!! on the team and wake them up. They needed to be woke up today.
 
#346      
BoiseBaller
OrangeBlue98 said:
Which is kind of shocking given how locked in defensive rotations were on Wednesday. Hard to understand how USC could have done that much different to totally confuse us.
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I think PSU had a lot to do with that. They just kept settling for tough 18 foot jumpers ("tough twos"). That played right into our hands.

Today, USC just did what they wanted. And that wasn't shooting a bunch of long jumpers. They set and ran screens to near perfection, and took the ball to the rim getting easy point blank shots. We never adjusted. It was disheartening to watch them just do it over and over again.
 
#348      
AZILL
DJM said:
Last 3 games from three:
22-69
Ben 9-22
Ivisic 2-9
Tre 1-10
BOS 2-10
KJ 2-7
Gibbs 3-15 (why is he shooting so many?)
Riley 1-9
Davis 2-6
Without Ben:
13-47.
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Ben 9-22 = 41%
Ivisic 2-9 = 22%
Tre 1-10 =10%
BOS 2-10 20%
KJ 2-7 29%
Gibbs 3-15 (why is he shooting so many?) 20%
Riley 1-9 11%
Davis 2-6 33%
Without Ben:
13-47.

By my noted calculations the bolded should be assigned elsewhere. Yeah, his % is not great, but DGL out-hustled most every other Illinois player today. He was the least of my issues with his effort compared to the rest of the team today. I'd give only 3 of our players a passing grade today. Davis, Ben H, and DGL....

Also earlier, someone posted a pic of Boswell in response to us having no lock-down defender.... Yes, he's been good. NOT TODAY though. He and DGL seemed to be the 2 assigned to Claude, neither were effective enough. Not sure though if it was a scheme breakdown, or an individual effort breakdown. I felt like both did a good job initially but on the occasions when they were beat there was no rotation help. I tend to think it was primarily a scheme/coaching breakdown that allowed him to go off.
 
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#349      
Oracle21
BoiseBaller said:
I think PSU had a lot to do with that. They just kept settling for tough 18 foot jumpers ("tough twos"). That played right into our hands.

Today, USC just did what they wanted. And that wasn't shooting a bunch of long jumpers. They set and ran screens to near perfection, and took the ball to the rim getting easy point blank shots. We never adjusted. It was disheartening to watch them just do it over and over again.
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Claude was more than happy to take what the Illini were giving. Illini defense is designed to give up the mid range 2, and it beat us today. Just no adjustment.
 
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