Takeaways: ILL 73 NU 66

PurpleFaze

Redshirt
Jan 9, 2019
1,331
38
48
It was a mortal sin today that Berry was on fire and got only 8 shots. Meanwhile boo and chase 7/28
 

Zootcat

Redshirt
Nov 17, 2008
1,118
3
38
Obviously we have no way of knowing whether it‘s happening for sure. But if players are ignoring Collins and taking contested shots early in the shot clock, they should be benched until they stop doing it. I agred that it was just wrong that they didn’t go to Berry until he cooled off.

Still, this team has talent. If they could learn from this year, get one year better and all come back next year, next year could be a lot of fun. With another off-season under their belt, Simmons and Roper could make this team extremely deep.
 

Purple Pile Driver

All-Conference
May 14, 2014
27,130
2,565
113
So, moving Beran and Nance out to the 3 point lane will stop us from being destroyed on the boards? Beran is about the least aggressive starter we have had in recent memory. Nance driving would result in a myriad of turnovers. He has been here 4 years, he doesn’t show that aggressive playing personality even when he has mis-matches. If you’re going to employ that strategy we better make a lot of 3’s.

Boo is the brunt of critics around here, but he is unafraid and one of the few on this team that can actually create a shot. Of course, he needs better shot selection, but if you take him out, we may get 6 shot clock violations a game. Berry just can’t create his own shots yet. Illinois is a good defensive team, they weren’t going to sit back and let him get to his spot by less than stellar screens.

it’s easy to armchair a solution, but I think these guys have been here long enough to know what they are and especially what they aren’t.
 

PurpleWhiteBoy

Redshirt
Feb 25, 2021
5,303
0
0
I thought that article was excellent, focusing on our frontcourt and how we are failing to utilize it to our advantage, even citing Simmons +/-, but there was one misstep...

"The Cats roster does not have the titan-sized Big Ten bigs to go head-to-head with players like Cockburn, Purdue's Zach Edey or Michigan's Hunter Dickinson. "

Is Matt Nicholson invisible? He 7' 1/2" 255. A rounding error away from Dickinson. How can you get destroyed on the boards and not play your best rebounder whose tendency to foul would actually be a positive for NU, sending a bad free throw shooter to the line?
 

willycat

Junior
Jan 11, 2005
21,448
318
0
I thought that article was excellent, focusing on our frontcourt and how we are failing to utilize it to our advantage, even citing Simmons +/-, but there was one misstep...

"The Cats roster does not have the titan-sized Big Ten bigs to go head-to-head with players like Cockburn, Purdue's Zach Edey or Michigan's Hunter Dickinson. "

Is Matt Nicholson invisible? He 7' 1/2" 255. A rounding error away from Dickinson. How can you get destroyed on the boards and not play your best rebounder whose tendency to foul would actually be a positive for NU, sending a bad free throw shooter to the line?
YES! And stop with the stupidly.