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Illinois Postgame Thread


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The very coveted milehi game ball goes to Romeo.  Just one point shy of tying the one game scoring record for a freshman. 

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My special effort citation goes to Zach.  Back from back pains .  Shooting is still a concern. However, his extra effort that he had displayed in the past showed up once again. This time on three different occasions.  And like before, each special effort made a positive impact in the game.

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A milehi salute goes out to the defense. While the offense continues to struggle at times. The defense keeps getting better and better. 21 turnovers, combined with 6 shot clock violations !  And you all know what they say " you can take defense on the road, and win with it."

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Lastly, last night, at half time, I posted: "Tie game. And I am not happy."

So it might seem crazy what I'm about to say. But, after the win, I'm pleased (we beat Illinois ! ) to say...I'm Happy !

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Frustrating game but after 2 that much time off we should expect a little rust. After getting beat by Florida Atlantic at home we expected to get the Illini's best shot. I twas hopeful that once we pushed it up to 15....we would just finish it off with the 20+ point. Oh well. Not expecting much on Sunday at Michigan. Until RP gets back...we just need to ride Romeo/Morgan. We literally have no one else who can consistently be counted on to score. That's why his absence hurts the most.

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I almost forgot.  I would like to make a special shout out to the fans.  Filling AH, the way they did.  I have seen other B1G games this week, where the stands were nearly empty. If you were one of the ones to fill a seat in AH on Thursday night..... Thank you.

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Love it when the Alumni band shows up as well.

 

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IU didn't get much ball movement in the first half which was probably rust, Green, and other factors.  We had only 8 or 9 assists on 23 made baskets.  In 2d half Romeo brought the ball down often and initiated the offense.  We got a lot of points at FT line.  We had 14 TOs which sadly is good for us especially v. a ball hawking team like the Illini.  We were 2-12 from 3 land which sadly is no big surprise.  We hit low 70s at FT line which is better than in the past but needs to be better.

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I witnessed greatness in person, Romeo going for his career high. 

 

No ball movement virtually the first half, our defense kept the score down.  Romeo still gets to his spots with ease.  We came out in the 2nd half a totally different team I thought.  Romeo handled the ball more which worked out good in the half court, not in full court(2 turnovers I believe).  Illinois hit some big three pointers in the final 4 minutes of regulation and the full court press turnover by Green didn't help during that last 4 minutes which helped close the gap from a 11 point lead all the way down to 4 with 2 minutes left.  Our defense will HAVE to win us games in the near future(Maryland/Michigan) until RP gets back which can allow someone to slide back to the bench and help that unit.  We are really testing our depth right now.  Glad we are 3-0 for BIG play, Sunday will be a battle, I am worried.

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46 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

I almost forgot.  I would like to make a special shout out to the fans.  Filling AH, the way they did.  I have seen other B1G games this week, where the stands were nearly empty. If you were one of the ones to fill a seat in AH on Thursday night..... Thank you.

 

You are welcome, I witnessed greatness with Romeo setting a new career high :)

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Our team needs to get healthy. We need Rob back, clearly. 

UM is very, very good, and it's in their house, without Rob. We will be 3-1, but hopefully will then get Rob back and will get the ship righted fast.

Next set of games is brutal. I do think Morgan and Romeo will play strong over this stretch, and Smith is turning the corner. Hopefully they'll be leading a healthy team, if so, we'll be alright.

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One thing I just saw on twitter that I guess I didn't notice.....Justin Smith with 6 offensive boards. Solid 8 points as well. Zach does what he does. Played great defense when in. Wish I knew the answer for our slow starts. We can get away with those vs bottom tier teams but spotting opponents a 10 point lead won't have a long shelf life on the road or vs good teams. 

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14 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

One thing I just saw on twitter that I guess I didn't notice.....Justin Smith with 6 offensive boards. Solid 8 points as well. Zach does what he does. Played great defense when in. Wish I knew the answer for our slow starts. We can get away with those vs bottom tier teams but spotting opponents a 10 point lead won't have a long shelf life on the road or vs good teams. 

 

10 hours ago, Reacher said:

Justin Smith is my unsung hero of the game (UHOTG). Led the team in +/-. Played great D. A very efficient 4 of 5 from the field. 6 offensive rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal. Played within himself.  Green- that's how it's done.

It was posted here on HSN first :D

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30 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

Watch the highlight video that TDH provided for us in his  Report Card of the game.  And look specifically for DeVonte.  Got a chance to see  several of the "Good DeVonte" offensive moves that went unnoticed by me during the game. 

He was good defensively as well. I like his upside and think he will be a valuable contributor. Just needs to cut down his head scratching plays. Those are the ones everyones notices.

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Not sure why there is so much negativity.

Yes, we just beat a team with a terrible record...

But that same team has lost close games to some really good teams (6 points against Gonzaga, 2 points at Notre Dame).

Illinois is not a finisher but they play a style of ball that makes it VERY difficult to blow them away. 

Honestly, we blew them out in the second half... especially if you take away a couple of their desperation threes. If we can replicate that half for the whole game against Michigan, we have a great chance.

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12 hours ago, AshtonHershey said:

Green is fine as long as he isn't shooting, dribbling, or passing.

I realize this was said sort of tongue in cheek but he is the best passer on the entire team which should be expected from your point guard.  He makes some dumb plays no doubt, but I want him passing in to the post or on pick and rolls all day long.

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Good thing is we're 3-0. Bad thing is tougher games are ahead. Once again, last night's game proved that defense is our bread and butter. We're still offensively challenged, and hopefully guys will feel more comfortable playing with one another soon enough. I liked that freethrows improved, and Justin played really hard and seemed to slowly find his niche. 

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14 minutes ago, CrossboneIU22 said:

I realize this was said sort of tongue in cheek but he is the best passer on the entire team which should be expected from your point guard.  He makes some dumb plays no doubt, but I want him passing in to the post or on pick and rolls all day long.

Green was really good defensively. Frazier was never a factor in the game. But Green was a disaster on the offensive end. Ridiculously inefficient. 8 pts on 11 shots vs 28 on 13 for Romeo and 15 on 9 for Juwan. Green is 6-21 over the past two games. Shot selection was atrocious. He should never take more shots than Juwan.

The offense is completely stagnant when he runs the point. Just endless dribbling and no ball movement. Obviously the coaching staff saw that and put the ball in Romeo's hands in the second half. Romeo may have to play point until RP returns.

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43 minutes ago, Reacher said:

He was good defensively as well. I like his upside and think he will be a valuable contributor. Just needs to cut down his head scratching plays. Those are the ones everyones notices.

He put up 2 floaters.  One from 15 feet that went 7.5 feet and one from 3 feet that went 1.5 feet! Perhaps he has a depth perception problem. He's improving.

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Start Durham at PG, when Romeo and Green are on the court together without Durham, I'd split the point guard duties between Romeo and Green with Romeo handling point guard duties in half court sets and Green handling the point more after opposing teams score or out of bounds plays from the opposing side.  Romeo looked really comfortable in half court sets with the ball, looked a little hesitant when bringing the ball up full court

Anderson didn't look too bad in the limited minutes.  Curious if he continues to get a few minutes in small spurts to give some rest to Durham/Romeo/Green due to high minutes and foul trouble(when this occurs).   

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Yes we did not play a full 40 minutes last night and UI is not good but we still found a way to win.  If you told me we would be 12-2 and 3-0 before the season I would be thrilled.  What makes this record more impressive is that we have not had our whole team together for one game this year and been out 2 key players for the whole year.

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12 hours ago, Reacher said:

I'm with you. Davis could have played a few more minutes. When he is in there, you need to get him the ball. Would have liked to see Moore for a few minutes. Don't tell me he is not as good as the IL backup bigs.

Agreed..I can't believe he isn't as effective as Fitz....especially on the defensive end. Watching Fitz hedge of try to help on defense was cringe worthy. He also is the worst 6'10 rebounder I've ever seen. If he can't get his shot off (which against B1G elite defenses I don't think he can) he is a liability. Who ever it is....whether it is suppose to be Race or him but we need another big to step up. Last night I will say Damezi played pretty decent. I'd like to see him get minutes to spell Romeo more. 1 min here and there before the TV timeouts etc would be perfect. Romeo had some pep in his legs tonight and he was able to turn the corner on his defenders...it was fun to watch!

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13 hours ago, Bob said:

I am not a Devonte Green fan. He does have flashes at times, but just goes brain dead to many other times! Like dribbling against the press until you get a ten second call against you. Are drive down the lane then do a 360 spin move shot three feet from the basket. That doesn’t hit anything! The slow start at the beginning was mostly because he just dribbled the ball no movement! He’s a junior with plenty of experience, so he should be much better and more consistent! 

He just isn't a natural pg. He is better after the ball has been reversed a couple times and can get his man out of position and then take them. He just has one speed as well...very frenetic. If you watch Rob he never looks rushed...yet he still is able to probe the defense and open up passing lanes. That is pretty special for a freshman. Both can be effective on our team but both look better at their normal position. Durham isn't a natural pg either. We definitely need a pg/cg in the 2020 class. Having only Rob and with Green out after next year we definitely will need a quality backup and then hopefully we land Landers to be that next great pg on our roster. With just TJD, Armani, and hopefully Brooks that won't give us another pg. We should definitely be in the hunt for any top pg's in the class of 20 and 21 because they should have opportunity of plenty of playing time if they earn it.

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