Illini’s Late Breakdowns lead to 83-79 Loss to the Wildcats
By Jeff Mayfield

[December 13, 2021]   The message in church on Sunday was joy. I am having a difficult time finding it after Saturday’s narrow loss to the Arizona Wildcats 83-79. No excuses. It was a game that was there for the taking. It was a game that this reporter felt Illinois could have and should have won.

What went wrong

Too many turnovers-16. And not just too many, but some came at the worst possible times.

Lack of execution. Take for instance the last big play with a chance to tie the game and maybe send it to overtime-Plummer called for a 5-second violation. He shouldn’t have done that, but in his defense, it seemed like it took the Illini a longer time than usual to get into their set. That can’t happen.

Bad 2nd half.

Out rebounded, 43-42 but at times Zona’s margin was 5-8 more than Illinois and they seemed to own their offensive glass.

Missed free throws, 9-14 AND Zona shot 4 more than the Illini [that doesn’t happen very often at home. Also, may denote not enough attacking of the basket to get to the line more].

Only 4 Illini players got into the scoring column. I don’t know the last time I saw a box score with so few players making it into the book. This game really needed some contributions from the bench.
Hutcherson out for the year. Austin has a sports hernia & will undergo season-ending surgery.
 

This team needs Andre Curbelo [I feel like we’re playing without a quarterback].
Kofi Cockburn did not have one of his better games but as my son astutely pointed out-he still registered a double-double while not having his best game [I’m quite sure most college stars can’t even say that, he’s just now so good that we expect him to be really special all the time!]

What went right

Great 3-point shooting.

Trent Frazier. Frazier had a monster game & deserved to be more rewarded for it. It’s nice to see that he’s been able to shake off what looked like maybe some prolonged injuries.

Alphonso Plummer. Continues to show that he’s a legitimate big-time long-range sniper.

Jacob Grandison at times. Grandison hit some big shots in the first half but seemed to cool off in the 2nd stanza.
Great first half.

Great 1st half shooting.

Great attacking of the basket & keeping Zona on their heels.

Find ways to sustain that [Illinois had one 19-0 run] for 40 minutes.

3 Stars

1 Trent Frazier=27 points
2 Alphonso Plummer=25 points
3 Kofi Cockburn/Jacob Grandison

What it Means

It was disappointing. But it shows that Illinois can play and compete with the really good teams out there. Illinois has to have more players step-up to get where this team wants to go. The Illini will have to find better execution and more consistency.

Illinois is now 7-3 and will host St. Francis on Saturday at noon. It wasn’t a league loss & so the Illini are still 2-0 in the Big Ten! It’s early in the season and this team has a much higher ceiling and a lot of possibilities to grow.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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