Trap game or revenge game?

IlliniJoe81 · Feb 19, 2024

Wednesday's game at Penn State:

The trap:

Playing in Rec Hall (special one-off venue, probably best PSU crowd of year)
5:30 Central start time
Coming off an emotional road win for Illinois
Penn State is ~12th in the conference and missing their best player. Would be easy to overlook.

The revenge:

3 humiliating losses to Penn State last year
"Booty ball"
An Illinois roster full of seniors that should know better than to FAFO in late February
Penn State is 93rd in KenPom and ripe for a beating

My hope is that the team takes this weird Rec Hall thing as a little motivation to blow up the trap and get some sweet revenge. Last year sucked entirely too much for us to not want some payback. I also like that we have that 4th day between games as it should give us a chance to mentally reset. I'm also hoping the team sees the opening for a Big Ten title with the Purdue loss and is locked in. This is the time to start playing our best ball (especially making some defensive improvement!) and not the time to give away games to teams we should beat.

I'm fired up for this game and I hope the fans don't let any complacency sink in right now. We need revenge against Penn State!

Tyrach · Feb 19, 2024