Alternate title: listen to @saltygrapes
Couple thoughts:
1. That really sucked hard, but Illinois went on the road and only a complete change in the officiating, a very low percentage conversation, and a foul that was highly selective took the win from an Illini team that looked fairly good. It wasn't a fluke, we didn't shoot crazy well, and we played very nice defense all game. All good things.
2. It was an improvement to be angry last night, because I knew we had that one in the bag. Beasts the hell out of being angry because we can't out didn't complete.
3. Trent needs to shoot more late and in general. We've probably seen enough to know that only he can reliably hit from the new arc, so he has to gobble shots. He was the difference in the first half and couldn't be found late.
4. Feliz has had a good start to the year, but doesn't actually bring much to the table when he can't drive. It's a useful weapon, but he looks like a great bench option to me.
5. Ayo has great numbers this year, but it sure doesn't feel like it. You need a couple plays from him late. This is now two games in a row where he's been on the bad side of sealing games, and it stands out. The MSU Ayo seems like a distant memory.
6. Giorgi is back to being a two faced player. On the arc he won't shoot and he over passes. In the paint he's a black hole. Both sides hurt the Illini, but the right blend would be a force. How high we rise hinges on he and Ayo.
7. More interesting stuff from Williams, who might be finding a productive niche at Illinois finally. I've faded him often, but credit to him.
8. I won't attack anyone for saying this was a coaching loss, but I wonder what they saw. I saw a team that was struggling with confidence playing very tough defense down the stretch and frankly, generating point blank misses late in the game. As if we needed more evidence that many fans on this board tell "coaching" because they can't diagnose any basketball issue. We get it, you don't know anything.
Couple thoughts:
1. That really sucked hard, but Illinois went on the road and only a complete change in the officiating, a very low percentage conversation, and a foul that was highly selective took the win from an Illini team that looked fairly good. It wasn't a fluke, we didn't shoot crazy well, and we played very nice defense all game. All good things.
2. It was an improvement to be angry last night, because I knew we had that one in the bag. Beasts the hell out of being angry because we can't out didn't complete.
3. Trent needs to shoot more late and in general. We've probably seen enough to know that only he can reliably hit from the new arc, so he has to gobble shots. He was the difference in the first half and couldn't be found late.
4. Feliz has had a good start to the year, but doesn't actually bring much to the table when he can't drive. It's a useful weapon, but he looks like a great bench option to me.
5. Ayo has great numbers this year, but it sure doesn't feel like it. You need a couple plays from him late. This is now two games in a row where he's been on the bad side of sealing games, and it stands out. The MSU Ayo seems like a distant memory.
6. Giorgi is back to being a two faced player. On the arc he won't shoot and he over passes. In the paint he's a black hole. Both sides hurt the Illini, but the right blend would be a force. How high we rise hinges on he and Ayo.
7. More interesting stuff from Williams, who might be finding a productive niche at Illinois finally. I've faded him often, but credit to him.
8. I won't attack anyone for saying this was a coaching loss, but I wonder what they saw. I saw a team that was struggling with confidence playing very tough defense down the stretch and frankly, generating point blank misses late in the game. As if we needed more evidence that many fans on this board tell "coaching" because they can't diagnose any basketball issue. We get it, you don't know anything.
