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 Opponents’ offenses went over, under, around and
through Illinois time and time again. I told the LDN’s Greg Taylor
that the Illini were simply unwatchable. I further suggested to him
that should Illinois not fix it, there was virtually no need to
follow the Illini the rest of the way.
And it wasn’t hidden away. It was out there in plain sight for
anyone to see. Casual on the ball defense, no one in the passing
lanes, not enough help defense, slow-hesitant-and bad rotations,
were just some of the Illini travails. Giving up layups and dunks
makes it easy for even the uninitiated to conclude that something is
amiss. Either the guys just aren’t capable of making the stops or
they don’t want to.
At the time, I didn’t think it was either one of those, but I did
think that as a team they weren’t playing desperately enough.
Nobody’s hair was on fire. Nobody warned us that the walls had been
scaled. Nobody was talking about how we’d been compromised.
 What I did think was that our front-loaded schedule for the last 6-8
years, if not longer, had damaged us again. And yes I know, you play
them when the schedule says you play them. However, take a close
look at who we played in the first half (the first nine games of the
18-game league schedule) of the conference schedule and you’ll see
that Illinois, once again, is playing the top teams in the first few
games.
Its tough enough to win on the road as it is but if you start the
year with several road games, even if you go .500, you’re at the
bottom looking up at the rest of the league. And yes I know with 14
teams in an 18-game league schedule that in itself is going to
create an unbalanced schedule. However, Illinois’ schedule has
really been unbalanced (I’ve just signed an executive order to look
into that).
With all that being said, Illinois comes back home after a solid
performance in Lincoln, Nebraska with a 3-game winning streak in
hand and now hosting a suddenly hot, young Michigan State
contingent; on senior night nonetheless. Needless to say I was not
very hopeful. I had watched the Spartans two or three times and I
saw a physical, over-powering front line and some young guns who
were excellent marksmen. And then when you throw-in the outstanding
coaching you know they’re getting from Tom Izzo, I was worried that
this might not be pretty.
Then, when the first few minutes of the game looked more like a
boxing match instead of a college basketball game (and so much for
basketball’s emphasis on whistling rough play???), not only was
Illinois getting battered, they couldn’t even land a blow! I
thought, here we go again. But then, the Illini threw caution to the
wind and started launching 3-pointers. Fortunately for them, the
3-pointers were going in. They extended MSU’s defense by punching
the ball inside to Maverick Morgan and back out to anybody that
would fire from long-distance.
Illinois converted 11 of 26 3-pointers in the game after making 13
in Sunday’s road tilt at Nebraska. The Illini also committed only 7
turnovers and forced the Spartans into 15 miscues. And when was the
last time you saw an Illinois team match MSU in in the paint
scoring? The final tally was 26-26.
The crowd was electrifying. By far the best crowd we have had all
year (where have these people been?). And the best part about their
performance is that they were helping the Illini at the right times.
Our crowd has a tendency to do things backwards. They wait until
something good happens to cheer, instead of cheering for the guys to
make something good happen! They let the opposing teams operate in
quiet instead of being a raucous, chaotic mess for other teams to
deal with. Last night they were closer to that ideal than they have
been all year! [to top of second column] |
Malcolm Hill led the way on senior night with 22 points, 4
rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Leron Black continues his
much-improved season with 15 points and 7 rebounds and senior
Maverick Morgan pitched in 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Miles Bridges led the Spartans with a double-double, 21 points
and 10 rebounds.
But it all came down to those last two possessions. Two
defensive possessions for Illinois. Something they crumbled on
in the past. Most of the season has been a crash and burn in
those situations. With 14.7 seconds left in the contest and
Illinois holding on for dear life, everyone in the building knew
which Spartan would get the ball.
Miles Bridges had it at the top of the key, juked, and took off
for the rim. A funny thing happened on the way to the rack and
Bridges lost control of the ball. As it always seems to happen
w/ Spartan players he magically got it back-I don’t know how
that happened. I mean I saw it, but I could never explain it.
Bridges somehow squared up his body, but going barreling in (I
thought the whistles were cleaning that stuff up too?-we must’ve
read the wrong points of emphasis-or are they now just treated
as suggestions?), he was too strong and his shot clanged hard
off the board and into Kipper Nichols’ hands.
Nichols looked startled at the free throw line but did make the
2nd one after bricking the first. And there was only 3.4 seconds
left. Greg Taylor texted me and said I hope we foul them. My son
Payne wasn’t sure whether we should foul or just contest
strongly. Anyway, Lourawls Nairn, Jr. got what looked like too
easy of a pass and had plenty of time to advance the ball past
half-court (I was hoping the home clock operator was on it and
time had expired). From there I was hoping for a travelling call
as he stutter-stepped to avoid a couple of Illini players but he
launched a rocket that banged off the board and sailed over the
basket never touching the rim.
The Illini held on! And they had a sensational 73-70 victory
over a red-hot Spartan team.
Our Three Stars:
Malcolm Hill 22 points, 4 reb, 4 assists, 3 steals (& carrying
the load all season & beyond AND jumping into 4th place in front
of our fav Illini, Lincoln’s Brian Cook)
Leron Black 15 points, 7 rebounds (brought us back w/ a perfect
1st half after MSU had us up against the ropes)
Maverick Morgan 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists (you just can’t
say enough about how much this young man has developed and
matured. What an improvement!)
Honorable Mentions The crowd (one of our crowd’s best
performances in quite some time!)
Our Seniors Malcolm Hill, Tracy Abrams, Maverick Morgan, Jaylon
Tate, Mike Thorne, Jr., and Alex Austin.
Thank you guys for all your contributions=Always in our hearts!
Best wishes to all of you in all your future endeavors!
Next up for the Illini is a Saturday road trip to Rutgers and
then on to the Big Ten Tourney in D.C.
[By JEFF MAYFIELD]
Respond to the writer at
jeffqmay@gmail.com.
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