1. We’re seeing way too much French pastry from Andre Curbelo. He’s overconfident, loose with the ball (10 turnovers) and his decision-making hasn’t improved. Curbelo needs to understand that he’s no longer a sideshow. He’s the primary ball-handler and had a very high 33.0 use percentage. He’s wound really tight and its hard to get him to slow down.
He just needs to relax and be sound. Double-digit turnovers isn’t going to cut it. The maturity isn’t there yet, as evidenced by Curbelo’s technical foul in the second half. Compounding the issue is that none of the other guards have looked great running the point.
2. IUP pulled Kofi away from the rim and made him defend out to the 3-point line. He didn’t always look great doing it, though he did contend a few 3-point shots well. The Illini don’t have a ton of size, so we’re going to see teams with big men who can shoot use the same strategy. When Kofi got drawn outside, IUP was able to drive to the rim, especially Shawndale Jones. Kofi himself got beat off the dribble a couple of times. Underwood will need to find a way to keep him in the paint on the defensive end.
3. Coleman Hawkins was really active and he plays smart basketball. I see a chance that he eventually cracks the starting lineup. His length is disruptive defensively, and that’s something this team needs. Hawkins finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds. He was the second most efficient offensive player to Cockburn. When Grandison is making shots, that’s a solid duo at the 3-4 both offensively and on the glass. The next step for Hawkins is knocking down a few more of the open 3’s that he missed tonight. 2-7 isn’t bad, but he had some wide open looks that rimmed out.
4. Freshman Luke Goode is one of those guys who can impact a game without scoring a bunch of points. He plays hard but under control, and he’s a quick leaper around the rim and keeps balls alive. Goode added muscle in the offseason and he battles the bigs in the paint. They’ll need him to play. He actually set the tone in a couple of his stints on the floor. Goode’s plus/minus of +12 was easily highest among the reserves. His 119.2 DRtg was solid and he forced 3 turnovers.
5. IUP shot 29 of 64 from the field The Hawks got 22 laypus, made 15 of them, and had 36 points in the paint. They also got to the free throw line 18 times. This was not a good performance defensively for Illinois and Brad Underwood will not be happy about it. IUP had 1.03 points per possession. Illinois shouldn't be allowing that kind of efficiency to a DII opponent.
Maybe missing Williams and Austin Hutcherson due to injury, and Trent Frazier leaving the game with an injury shoulder threw them off balance some. But this is a DII team, and Illinois let them score some easy buckets and keep the game close. The arm bells aren’t going off yet, but you’d expect better.
6. Kofi can flat out take over games. The focus was on running more offense and it wasn’t’ really designed to feed the ball to any specific players. Cockburn was dominant offensively when they ran plays for him, and obviously we’re going to see that much more often once the regular season starts.
He finished 8-10 with 21 points, and grabbed rebounds. Another player who will have more designed plays come his way is Plummer. He was good from 3 when spotting up, so we will likely see more plays designed to free him up.
He just needs to relax and be sound. Double-digit turnovers isn’t going to cut it. The maturity isn’t there yet, as evidenced by Curbelo’s technical foul in the second half. Compounding the issue is that none of the other guards have looked great running the point.
2. IUP pulled Kofi away from the rim and made him defend out to the 3-point line. He didn’t always look great doing it, though he did contend a few 3-point shots well. The Illini don’t have a ton of size, so we’re going to see teams with big men who can shoot use the same strategy. When Kofi got drawn outside, IUP was able to drive to the rim, especially Shawndale Jones. Kofi himself got beat off the dribble a couple of times. Underwood will need to find a way to keep him in the paint on the defensive end.
3. Coleman Hawkins was really active and he plays smart basketball. I see a chance that he eventually cracks the starting lineup. His length is disruptive defensively, and that’s something this team needs. Hawkins finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds. He was the second most efficient offensive player to Cockburn. When Grandison is making shots, that’s a solid duo at the 3-4 both offensively and on the glass. The next step for Hawkins is knocking down a few more of the open 3’s that he missed tonight. 2-7 isn’t bad, but he had some wide open looks that rimmed out.
4. Freshman Luke Goode is one of those guys who can impact a game without scoring a bunch of points. He plays hard but under control, and he’s a quick leaper around the rim and keeps balls alive. Goode added muscle in the offseason and he battles the bigs in the paint. They’ll need him to play. He actually set the tone in a couple of his stints on the floor. Goode’s plus/minus of +12 was easily highest among the reserves. His 119.2 DRtg was solid and he forced 3 turnovers.
5. IUP shot 29 of 64 from the field The Hawks got 22 laypus, made 15 of them, and had 36 points in the paint. They also got to the free throw line 18 times. This was not a good performance defensively for Illinois and Brad Underwood will not be happy about it. IUP had 1.03 points per possession. Illinois shouldn't be allowing that kind of efficiency to a DII opponent.
Maybe missing Williams and Austin Hutcherson due to injury, and Trent Frazier leaving the game with an injury shoulder threw them off balance some. But this is a DII team, and Illinois let them score some easy buckets and keep the game close. The arm bells aren’t going off yet, but you’d expect better.
6. Kofi can flat out take over games. The focus was on running more offense and it wasn’t’ really designed to feed the ball to any specific players. Cockburn was dominant offensively when they ran plays for him, and obviously we’re going to see that much more often once the regular season starts.
He finished 8-10 with 21 points, and grabbed rebounds. Another player who will have more designed plays come his way is Plummer. He was good from 3 when spotting up, so we will likely see more plays designed to free him up.
