1. Two careless turnovers by Illinois swung the momentum to Iowa down the stretch. First, the careless pass by Giorgi with about 5 minutes left and Illinois leading by 2. Then Frazier steps out of bounds. Giorgi lost focus at times, had 4 bad turnovers, and was yanked out of the game a couple of times.
2. This was a ridiculously physical game, and the officials had no idea what to do. They looked in over their head trying to call this game. It's not that the officiating swung one way or the other, the fouls basically evened out, but it was wildly inconsistent. What's a foul?
3. Feliz is one tough dude. That ORB and put-back in among the trees was his best play of the season. 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, zero turnovers. He basically carried Illinois with the starters only scoring 36 points.
4. Illinois had to at least slow down Garza to win this game, and he put up 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. When they pushed him out high, he spotted up and made jumpers. Then he was playing by Jordan rules on the inside. And you can't front him because of his ORBing.
5. When Kofi gets winded, he can't catch the basketball. Yes, he got hammered a lot. Iowa was reaching in and raking him across the arms. But his hands aren't great. And you can't throw the ball to him when he's running full tilt on the break. A couple of dumb passes to him when he's flying to the basket. What's he going to do with those passes?
6. Griffin needs to be more than just a chucker. All 7 of his shots were 3's. He did have 5 rebounds, but no offensive rebounds, which is one of the reasons you have him on the court. Also 3 turnovers. He's just too amped up at times.
7. Iowa's size on the wing hurt Illinois. They were able to put the ball on the floor and get mid-range shots over the top of the defense or get fouled. Seems like Frazier was the victim of that quite a bit. They took advantage of his lack of size. Wieskamp and Frederick both 18 points, shot a combined 12-19 FG and 9-12 FT's.
8. Iowa runs the same plays over and over and gets open looks out of them. Same inbounds play twice in a row for easy layups. You can criticize the Illini defense, but Iowa is a very good offensive team. They execute and they make open shots. They're also very well conditioned. No bench points for Iowa, but they just keep coming at you.
9. Illinois didn't go right at Garza enough in the paint, and when they did they couldn't finish. They also couldn't get enough put-backs off of 13 ORB. As Brad pointed out in his preview, Garza isn't a great defender. Go at him. Seems like Iowa denied the entry pass, and Illinois tried to force it a few times.
2. This was a ridiculously physical game, and the officials had no idea what to do. They looked in over their head trying to call this game. It's not that the officiating swung one way or the other, the fouls basically evened out, but it was wildly inconsistent. What's a foul?
3. Feliz is one tough dude. That ORB and put-back in among the trees was his best play of the season. 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, zero turnovers. He basically carried Illinois with the starters only scoring 36 points.
4. Illinois had to at least slow down Garza to win this game, and he put up 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. When they pushed him out high, he spotted up and made jumpers. Then he was playing by Jordan rules on the inside. And you can't front him because of his ORBing.
5. When Kofi gets winded, he can't catch the basketball. Yes, he got hammered a lot. Iowa was reaching in and raking him across the arms. But his hands aren't great. And you can't throw the ball to him when he's running full tilt on the break. A couple of dumb passes to him when he's flying to the basket. What's he going to do with those passes?
6. Griffin needs to be more than just a chucker. All 7 of his shots were 3's. He did have 5 rebounds, but no offensive rebounds, which is one of the reasons you have him on the court. Also 3 turnovers. He's just too amped up at times.
7. Iowa's size on the wing hurt Illinois. They were able to put the ball on the floor and get mid-range shots over the top of the defense or get fouled. Seems like Frazier was the victim of that quite a bit. They took advantage of his lack of size. Wieskamp and Frederick both 18 points, shot a combined 12-19 FG and 9-12 FT's.
8. Iowa runs the same plays over and over and gets open looks out of them. Same inbounds play twice in a row for easy layups. You can criticize the Illini defense, but Iowa is a very good offensive team. They execute and they make open shots. They're also very well conditioned. No bench points for Iowa, but they just keep coming at you.
9. Illinois didn't go right at Garza enough in the paint, and when they did they couldn't finish. They also couldn't get enough put-backs off of 13 ORB. As Brad pointed out in his preview, Garza isn't a great defender. Go at him. Seems like Iowa denied the entry pass, and Illinois tried to force it a few times.
