Game Thread: Illinois at Michigan State

[illiniguy24]

We just have to be better on offense man. We should be up by 15.

 

[IlliniForceOne]

We are 3-14 from three. Grandison 3-5.

The rest of the team, 0-9.

 

[LeinieGuy]

Why oh why are we so jumpy on defense?? Stay planted please....

 

[Manual3for4peat]

Brad not happy with that close out

 

[Chieeeeffffff]

Plummer and Trent need to give us something on O. Literally anything.

 

[azillini1]

Dang Sparty with the potential And1.

Illinois still leading but come on fellas, we need to bury Sparty! Lets go ILLINI!

We need someone besides Kofi and Grandy to make some shots. Seems Like we have had offensive issues since the Purdue game on our floor.

 

[Hopingfor500]

Should of left the starters in before halftime totally killed our momentum

He had Kofi and Frazier at the scorers table prior. Just no clock stoppage.

 

[Ramrod2010]

Shots are falling at a better clip, but rebounding is about "fight", they've done much better with that to this point.

Or maybe they aren't falling... I put this in the Rutgers post game but I'll throw it here too. This is a bit of a troubling trend.

So I picked a somewhat arbitrary date. But (meathead alert) it felt like a slog since the first Purdue game.

Going back through the games it's pretty clear why it's felt this way. The following are our 3 point percentages for each game:

@Maryland - 11/35 (31.4%)
MSU - 9/29 (31.0%)
@NW - 5/18 (27.8%)
Wisconsin - 7/22 (31.8%)
@Indiana - 10/23 (43.5%)
@Purdue - 8/26 (30.8%)
NW - 10/29 (34.5%) 9/16 in the 1st half, 1/13 in the 2nd
@Rutgers - 6/23 (26.1%)

That's 32.2%, which is elevated by a strong showing against Indiana and the first half of the 2nd NW game, from three over the last month. For the season we are at 36.2% (T-60 in D1), that 32.2% would be T-259 (out of 358) for the year.

Nobody should have expected the shooting to stay as hot as it was at the beginning of the year, but either this team isn't as good of a shooting team as we hoped or they are in a collective month long funk.

 

[HailtotheChief]

RJ had a good look and so did Belo earlier but the shots looked good

 

[Zorak]

Jake is keeping this lead.

 

[illinigiant80]

Up on the road at mich. st & all I’m reading is whining & crying. Pathetic

 

[Hof]

Grandy

 

[IllinistuckinGopherland]

Should of left the starters in before halftime totally killed our momentum

Hawk, Melendez, Payne, Curbelo came in for about 90 seconds at the 14 minute mark and extended the lead by three. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

 

[Illini8420]

Grandison found his stroke again thankfully

 

[SuperMetroid]

Kofi fouled at least 5 times there

 

[Zorak]

Up on the road at mich. st & all I’m reading is whining & crying. Pathetic

This lead would be double if Illinois was playing well.

 

[Ignatius Shang]

Jake's corner three reminds me of PJ Tucker.

 

[hiberto]

who whines more to the refs, izzo or K?

 

[Btpk138]

I guess in order to get a foul called you have to decapitate a player

 

[IlliniForceOne]

Jake's corner three reminds me of PJ Tucker.

Shot put. Almost like it’s knuckle balled.

 

[Pikeillinifan]

Alright, holding tight here, let’s keep the lead at double digits going into the half.

 

[grantlab]

JAAAAAAAKE! I don’t have the numbers to back this up, but he seems to shoot better on the road.

 

[Btpk138]

who whines more to the refs, izzo or K?

I say Izzo

 

[Hopingfor500]

This may not be a popular opinion, but Kofi is so soft with the ball. He brings the ball down, gets stripped or he's all thumbs. When he gets the ball, back the basket and can go right, he's very, very effective. Getting a cheap put back doesn't happen. The ball always comes down.

 

[CubsIlliniFan]

Izzo being Izzo. Getting into Bo’s ear to pay dividends later in the game