Illini take another positive step nipping
Rutgers, 54-51
By Jeff Mayfield
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[January 13, 2020]
Former American President Franklin D.
Roosevelt once said, “the only thing we have to fear is… fear
itself.” While it is one of my favorite quotes I would also remind
you that President Roosevelt never played in the Big Ten Conference.
At least I can’t find his name on any of the archived stat sheets!
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Had he played in our league he would
have known what a tough assignment was in store for the Fighting
Illini hosting the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday morning [and
yes that is not a typo-I wish it was]. He also would have probably
feared this one going in as much as we did.
And while Saturday games at 11am are ideal for old codgers like
me-and yes, I am now older than dirt-they are brutal for boys
between the ages of 18-22. I have one such young man who lives under
my roof. Fortunately for his mom and me, he’s a pretty responsible
kid and usually gets up on his own and generally makes it to his
college classes and his job on time. However, I do not think his
best skill is playing games at that time of the day! [although I saw
him in tourneys his last two years of hoops action and I think his
team’s record was about 50-50 in such contests, but don’t stop me,
I’m on a roll]. I don’t know if any of the Sports Networks
executives went to college. I don’t know IF any of them have any
kids in college. Clearly, they don’t, or we wouldn’t be playing
games at 11 on a Saturday morning. It just doesn’t make any sense.
Unless it is a money grab. Unless TV rules the roost & the world.
And I guess it does cause once again we found ourselves in State
Farm Arena for a contest against the Knights at 11am Saturday
morning.
In addition, the Fighting Illini were coming off one of their most
impressive showings in years, a heart-pounding 71-70 thrilling upset
of the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison. I don’t even want to mention
that Illinois had lost 15 straight games to UW-is that even
possible? That Illinois hadn’t taken Bucky down in the Kohl Center
since the Mayfields lived in Cheeseland in 2010! I’m told it’s the
longest streak any Big Ten team has [had!] over any other league
opponent. Are you kidding me? Let’s stop the accident now! And
that’s what Ayo & the boys did Wednesday night in Wisconsin while I
was teaching my Bible Study class [& yes I will do anything to help
our guys win-even go to Bible Study!] The hard-fought battle,
coupled with the total emptying of emotions, mixed with Rutgers
outstanding play so far this season [several statistics show them as
not only a top level team in our league, but a top team in the
nation’s numbers], made this reporter hobbled with fear.
I’ve seen it all before and it’s a recipe for disaster. And if
President Roosevelt were still alive today and an Illini fan as I
suspect he would be, his level of fear couldn’t possibly have
exceeded mine going into this ball game. When your greatest fears
are realized it can be a scary thing. None scarier than the first
half of action Saturday morning [did I mention that we played near
the crack of dawn?] for the Illini. And it got worse.
The Illini converted on a whoppingly low 19% of their first half
shots, committed 6 turnovers, got out-rebounded 24-23 and got
outscored in the paint 14-8 and off the bench 9-2. I’m not making
this stuff up. Illinois was in trouble. Now part of it was just that
shots weren’t falling. Luckily for the Illini there was still
another half of action left to play. And it’s not like the Illini
got on fire in the 2nd half. They did improve their shooting to 38%
but even that was rusty. Thank goodness Illinois brought their
defense and their solid free throw shooting [Illinois converted 16
of 19 for 84% at the line] to the game this morning [couldn’t
remember if I mentioned the early tip?]. And the Illini managed to
get out of the place hanging on to a 54-51 hard fought win.
[to top of second column] |
It would be hard to separate who was the MVP or star of the game
for the Illini in this one.
Was it Ayo Dosunmu
or was it Kofi Cockburn?
Ayo continued to execute end of the game situations just like he
did in prime time Wednesday night up north, which is a stellar
time to tip a game in case you’re playing along at home. Ayo
finished the morning with 18 big points and what turned out to
be 7 even bigger rebounds. Kofi on the other hand displayed how
important a big man is in college basketball. And how much
Illini fans have yearned for a presence in the post. All Kofi
did was score 11 points, to go along with an incredible 17
rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Those two were co-MVPs for sure!
Andres Feliz and Giorgi Bezhanishvili both tallied 8 points
apiece to help the cause.
The Illini ended up out-scoring Rutgers 24-22 in the paint while
committing only 8 turnovers for the game. Jacob Young was the
only Scarlet Knight in double figures with 16 points.
It was scary and we feared it all week and President Roosevelt
was right. That fear was a real tangible thing to face and
somehow the Illini overcame it. With the convincing victory
Illinois is now 12-5 and 4-2 and in 2nd place in the conference.
They will now enjoy a week off & don’t play again until Saturday
afternoon at 4pm. I fear that the 11am time slot wasn’t
available. Either way I’m guessing that President Roosevelt
would have loved this one! I have no fear that we did! [By JEFF MAYFIELD
/ Phots by Ed Bacon]
Respond to the writer at
jeffqmay@gmail.com.
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