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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 12, 2012 22:50:11 GMT -5
Illini blow out St. Francis of NY out 89-64 in Champaign tonight. If these first two games tell us anything about this team it's that they can flat out shoot! They hit 11 3's on 44% from behind the arc after hitting 13 3's in the 1st game. They also had only 8 turnovers with 17 assists which is a great sign. Senior Tyler Griffey led the scoring with 17, sophomore PG Tracy Abrams had 15, and senior Brandon Paul had 14. Now it's off to Hawaii with a game Friday night vs the University of Hawaii and then they'll open up the Maui Tournament vs USC.
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 17, 2012 3:18:01 GMT -5
HUGE comeback win tonight for the Illini!!! In their first road test, they defeat Hawaii at Hawaii on a DJ Richardson buzzer-beating 3 in overtime!!! WOW!!! I'm watching this at 2:00 in the morning on a crappy, choppy internet feed, ripping the labels off of the bottle I drank out of... I was a nervous wreck but they pulled it out. Illinois was down 13 at halftime, and dug their way back thanks to Brandon Paul and Tracy Abrams. They were absolute studs tonight! Paul had 25 points on 7-14 shooting including 5 3's. Tracy had 22 points and 5 steals and was a stud ball-handler all night. DJ struggled shooting the ball early, but he hit some HUGE shots down the stretch to pull it out. This is a game they needed to win and they found a way to do it! PHEW! Now on to Maui and USC on Monday.
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Post by incognitoman on Nov 17, 2012 8:14:35 GMT -5
Just by reading your posts, it seems like the Illini are going to live and die by the 3 this year. You agree?
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 17, 2012 15:52:20 GMT -5
Just by reading your posts, it seems like the Illini are going to live and die by the 3 this year. You agree? Very much so. They lack a true inside presence without Leonard. Paul, Richardson, Bertrand, and Abrams should be able to drive and score at the rim, however, Groce has empowered this team full of churckers to do what they do best... chuck it. I'm sure there will be a handful of ugly losses on cold shooting nights, but it does give me hope for a few upsets when we're hot.
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Post by tubballfan on Nov 17, 2012 16:11:30 GMT -5
It seems like on past teams he had when Ohio did really well, they really relied on letting the guard play their game. He seems to give people some freedom. Is that the case this year? I'm excited to see how the season plays out.
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 17, 2012 16:30:59 GMT -5
It seems like on past teams he had when Ohio did really well, they really relied on letting the guard play their game. He seems to give people some freedom. Is that the case this year? I'm excited to see how the season plays out. Very much so. Tracy Abrams has improved tremendously since last year and Brandon Paul is play much more free than last year. You can tell that these guys have so much more confidence shooting the ball than last year. One columnist joked that DJ Richardson will benefit simply from not having Bruce yell "NOOOOOOO" every time he puts up a 3. Groce instead is yelling "YESSSSS" when players are shooting. It makes all the difference in the world. The biggest difference may actually be seen in fowards Tyler Griffey and Myke Henry who are "stretch 4's" in this system. I love this team's shooting ability, but as incognito pointed out, they'll live and die by their ability to knock down shots.
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Post by tubballfan on Nov 17, 2012 18:33:47 GMT -5
True. It's encouraging though to think of a couple years ahead when he has the chance to get his players. Then again, he did some incredible things with that Ohio team in the tourney. If he can get them into the tourney, they could take a few big games....
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 17, 2012 19:19:13 GMT -5
They're going to get destroyed by teams like IU that have a dominant post presence though. We got outrebounded by 17 by Hawaii. That doesn't bode well for the B1G Ten.
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Post by 4ever4ester on Nov 18, 2012 12:36:45 GMT -5
Hey HUIRG, Bates-Diop to OSU. Didn't see that coming. Thought he was either Illinois or UM.
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 18, 2012 15:26:47 GMT -5
Hey HUIRG, Bates-Diop to OSU. Didn't see that coming. Thought he was either Illinois or UM. Yeah there were rumors that he was going to end it soon and over the last week Ohio State rumors started to grow. This is a huge, huge blow to Groce and Illinois. This is a kid that lives 45 minutes from Champaign and was the type of impact 5-star recruit that Groce really needed to land to get things rolling. Chicago will always be tough to nail down when it comes to recruiting, but when top tier talent crops up downstate, Illinois has usually landed them and in following years they usually have great success on the court. This is a very, very disappointing loss.
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 20, 2012 0:58:42 GMT -5
My boys are looking GREAT early on against USC in a game I was very worried about. As I've noted, the Illini are going to struggle against size this year and size is something USC has a lot of. However, the Illini have shot the ball well, but are also attacking the glass, playing great d, and actually out-rebounding the Trojans. Due to Texas choking against Chaminade earlier, the winner is basically in the title game. Chaminade isn't pulling two out of their tails. Great 1st half, they just need to keep it up!
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 20, 2012 1:13:14 GMT -5
This is a whippin'! This is the most fun I've had watching an Illini game in years!!! 54-20 with 1 minute left in the first half!!! This is what Groce's system looks like at its finest!
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 20, 2012 1:33:05 GMT -5
Let me break down this 1st half domination...
Illinois: 8-14 3pt FG (57%), 14-18 2pt FG (78%), 17 rebounds (4 offensive), 12 assists, 8 turnovers, 6 steals USC: 1-6 3pt FG (17%), 9-19 2pt FG (47%), 9 rebounds (3 offensive), 2 assists, 11 turnovers, 5 steals
Illinois still is a little sloppy with the ball, but I loved their aggressiveness taking the ball to the hoop when USC overplayed at the 3pt arc. We need to continue to do that to win in the future.
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 20, 2012 1:44:17 GMT -5
Taylor with a mention in the game as they were describing the Orange Hush event (Illinois' Silent Night tribute)!!! That's pretty cool on national TV!
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Post by huisrealgood on Nov 20, 2012 1:59:22 GMT -5
And here comes the downside... 7 turnovers in the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half. This team needs to learn how to play for the full 40 minutes and not lose focus when they have a big lead. Still some maturing to do here.
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