Winthrop 84, Illinois 80 OT POSTGAME

Ryllini · Nov 21, 2016

This one is not on Groce. This is about making winning plays and our seniors did not. They were put into position to win this game and the guts folded. Tate can not get his pocket picked, Tate has to secure a long rebound on a missed free throw. Mav has to catch passes on those hi-lows. We were beaten by a kid who was on fire, plain and simple. He was left open on a few, but this kid was hitting everything.

The only thing I would've done was had AJ and DJ in there more in the 2nd half, I thought they were really active on the defensive side of the ball in the first. I would've liked to see TJL's speed on Keon.

Berg88 · Nov 21, 2016

JIllini said:
Didn't realize you're psychic and can see the future.

You don't have to be psychic to learn from history. So far in his time here, Groce's teams have lost to bad teams in non-conference and then gotten beaten badly in conference. It's happened over and over and it's happening again now before our eyes. There's still a chance, sure. But we've all seen this movie before, and there's no excuses left.

IllinistuckinGopherland · Nov 21, 2016

You had to know we were in trouble when the kid made a falling down, out of control bank shot, followed by a bank in three at the end of regulation. Really wish we could have won in OT. Would've been a great wake-up call for some of the guys who disappeared at the end (Hill in particular).

If Malcolm doesn't make a tourney in his four years, I won't feel that bad. It's his job to get this team there. He can. They can. Tonight he completely failed.

One game. Weird game (refs, banked 3's).

Win Thursday/Friday and all will be forgiven.

We all know it's tourney or bust for JG. I guess it's your choice which one you're rooting for.

Chase3 · Nov 21, 2016

I'm so torn and it's nauseating. On one end, I think it's just one loss to an NCAA tournament team, it's early in the season, were working out kinks. On the other end I think, we're ILLINOIS HOW ARE WE LOSING TO A SCHOOL WITH AN ENROLLMENT OF 6,100 KIDS??? Torn between finally accepting mediocrity and wanting to ask for more of this team.

SuperMetroid · Nov 21, 2016

schnaurt said:
Groce and his staff have never been able to get his players to finish games. When they go up, they play scared and always let a lesser foe back in the game. 5 years and still do not see the desire to rip a throat out when the other team is down.

To be fair, this has kind of been the general M.O. of Illini basketball going all the way back to the Henson era (with a few notable exceptions, of course)

IlliniGuy108 · Nov 21, 2016

GallopingGhost said:
Overreaction time right?? Fire Groce right? No we lost to a tournament team in a close game. Yeah it was a choke but we can learn.

Yes, they are a 'tournament team,' but when most people say that term they mean an at-large team. Winthrop is a perennial 15/14/16 seed and we lost to them at home. I'm not giving up on the season; I'll be watching with hope on Thursday, but this is a bad loss, and follows a pattern of really bad losses of the type that the University of Illinois men's basketball team used to regularly avoid.

GoIllini40 · Nov 21, 2016

IllinistuckinGopherland said:
We all know it's tourney or bust for JG. I guess it's your choice which one you're rooting for.

The thing is, this recruiting class might have saved him a year as long as they don't completely collapse. I just think at this point, you're treading water if you keep him. He's proven he's not a capable head coach. Maybe they make the tournament with his top recruits but should that be the goal at Illinois?

Second and Chalmers · Nov 21, 2016

13vezinag said:
Yes i know that but if he proves he can turn this program around thats great.

I'd rather turn it around with him than anybody else. But that hope does not distract from the fact that this program is a hot-buttered five alarm shipwreck, and has been for a decade now.

JIllini · Nov 21, 2016

O-Bla said:
Wisconsin has good coaching. We don't.

Have you seen anything from Groce in the last 5 years to indicate he could turn this around?

I havn't. Fire Groce. Tonight.

That's just plain silly. Fire him tonight and replace him with??

Ken · Nov 21, 2016

coltjames03 said:
Lol you wanted TJL in this game. Seriously if he was in for Tate this game doesn't go to even overtime. Illinois is blown out of their gym

We had 22 turnovers and gave up 38 to one guy but somehow if TJL would've played it would've been worse ?

Poe's Law · Nov 21, 2016

Illinithad said:
No...Fire Groce is easier. They have been waiting five games for this. Let them have their moment.

Who cares about easier. Firing Groce is at least a plan towards making the tournament again. Something has to change. He either has to bring in some assistant coaches to supplement his terrible in game coaching or he's going to lose his job. Were we out of timeouts? Can he switch somebody, anybody, else onto Johnson? Does he just enjoy watching Tate get beat time after time? Our shot selection is abysmal. Does he have any set plays to get JCL an open look? Maybe a simple post up for Hill instead of having Tate sit at the top of the key and try dribble every last ounce of air out of the ball.

Did we run into a bit of a buzzsaw tonight? Yes. But it happens far too often to chalk it up to something other than we're an awful defensive team. It isn't luck and it's not a problem that's going away. We haven't stopped defensive penetration since Weber left. The difference was that we used to have Egwu to minimize the damage. That safety net is gone. It's time for a new plan.

When Hill scored 40 against NKU they say, "give the devil his due" and move on. If we were NKU, I'd feel a lot better about losing by four in OT to Winthrop at home. We aren't NKU.

The season's not lost, we can still make the tournament, but for those shouting fire Groce, I'm struggling to find a reason to tell them they're wrong.

CasualObserver05 · Nov 21, 2016

Btw… Florida State (currently ranked 25th) just beat this team 100-86. Winthrop was missing the kid who put up 38 tonight. Give the kid his due, he's an absolute stud, who had an otherworldly "Jordanesque" game tonight and that's what it took to beat us.

Serious Late · Nov 21, 2016

chief78 said:
Some of you are just unbearable fans.....I'm mean really. Entitlement generation.

Would you mind sharing your demographic survey of these post game threads?

Suuuuuper into marketing research over here! [emoji4]

illini8507 · Nov 21, 2016

USAFILLINI said:
He put up 38 , not sure you want to use the "bottled up" to describe that.

From about the 10 minute mark in the 2nd half until about 2 minutes, yes he did. You can't deny that, just like I'm not trying to deny that the kid freaking went off for the other 32 mins that he played. I'm not here trying to make excuses. I'm just pointing out that for a small section of the game we stopped him, and during that time we went up 10 points. We were up 12 early before he was in the game too. You can't let one guy beat you if you want to have success. Tonight we lost to Keon Johnson, and 4 other guys who passed him the ball and periodically made a shot themselves. Not good.

LouAlcinder · Nov 21, 2016

IllinistuckinGopherland said:
You had to know we were in trouble when the kid made a falling down, out of control bank shot, followed by a bank in three at the end of regulation. Really wish we could have won in OT. Would've been a great wake-up call for some of the guys who disappeared at the end (Hill in particular).

If Malcolm doesn't make a tourney in his four years, I won't feel that bad. It's his job to get this team there. He can. They can. Tonight he completely failed.

One game. Weird game (refs, banked 3's).

Win Thursday/Friday and all will be forgiven.

We all know it's tourney or bust for JG. I guess it's your choice which one you're rooting for.

+Infinity

helppitch · Nov 21, 2016

Illini1221 said:
Finke cant do anything right, good lord, and how does JCL not start the overtime period?

I thought JCL should have been in a lot more than he was.

bigillinfan11 · Nov 21, 2016

Wow if i ever need a laugh I just need to come to this board after a loss.

So much over reaction. we lost to a team that will most likely make the NCAA tournament and they had a kid who was feeling it and pretty much anything he was throwing up was going on. Yes I agree no excuse for losing this game with the lead they had but there is still a lot of basketball to be played. This team can still do many things and be good and make the tournament

haasi · Nov 21, 2016

completely unacceptable loss, no two ways about it. you just don't lose a game at home when you're up 10 in the final minutes. and it hurts extra that winthrop has never beaten a B1G team before.

but that said, it's very early in the season, winthrop is a good mid-major, and we've likely got some growing pains before we really gel as a team. let's hope we don't drop both of the next 2 in brooklyn. that would put us in a hole. Losing this one, we can pretty easily make it back over the course of a long season.

Chipatsj23h · Nov 21, 2016

ju1ce said:
You are 100% correct. Tate played really good defense on Johnson; every circus shot he threw up went in. All of you blaming Tate for Johnson's scoring either didn't watch the game or you're braindead. Tate was one of the better players on the floor tonight.

I am not blaming him for his defense, he played well on defense. But his offense was so bad that he was a big part in this loss. And ultimately who cares if he played good defense if the guy he was defensing was still scoring. Good effort, maybe next time, sit on the bench and give someone else a go.

Adnarel · Nov 21, 2016

illini8507 said:
That Johnson kid had more heart than our entire team.

still the most succinct game summary ITT yet

O-Bla · Nov 21, 2016

IlliniMed said:
I've seen more of his body of work than your 29 posts... so i'll stick with Groce for tonight at least

I've been watching the Illini longer than you, Junior.

And Groce is terrible. He doesn't deserve to be the head coach at Illinois. He was a marginal hire, by a an idiot AD. He's done nothing in 5 years to give anyone hope of ever turning this thing around.

He should be fired immediately.

ritster · Nov 21, 2016

illinidadtime said:
I feel terrible for our Seniors. It looks like Malcolm and Co. will never get to taste a tourney. I just don't think we have it in us right now.

Why do you feel terrible for the seniors? If Illinois does not make the tourney it will be because of the seniors ( sans Tracy) You create your own destiny

Fighter of the Nightman · Nov 21, 2016

Nothing to say. This era is over barring a miracle, and yes - this result was that significant.

westms77 · Nov 21, 2016

Illinithad said:
Fire Groce...lose at least a part of next year's recruiting class...probably the biggest part at least. Start over with making recruiting connections. Set the program back a few more years.

No, I'm not happy we lost at home to Winthrop, but I was worried about this game. I guess everyone assumed we were going to win this thing by 20 since they're Winthrop?

I just get frustrated when everyone loses their mind every time we lose a game. We are going to lose more this season. It's going to happen. But we'll win more than we lose.

Remember when we didn't worry about a home game against a team like this..even a good one...

BlindLoyalty · Nov 21, 2016

If KJ didn't have a bad wheel all night he might have gone for 60. We still have a shot at 2nd place in the Big South.