Won't come out until later tonight. The last game today is an East region game, so they may need to wait and see who wins that.
Illinois matchup
- Thread starter PizzaTheHutt
- Start date
Since the start of conference tournament play (March 10) Iowa State is the best team in college basketball ranking first overall with the #12 offense and #4 defense. We are hotter than fish grease right now.
For comparison, Illinois is 7th best, with #6 offense and #94 defense.
(Numbers from barttorvik.com)
For comparison, Illinois is 7th best, with #6 offense and #94 defense.
(Numbers from barttorvik.com)
Their fanbase is using how they blew out Duquesne as grounds for how they will easily handle Iowa State and completely ignoring that Duquesne should have been a 13 seed. The Dukes were not a good team compared to what they will face Thursday.
Iowa State will easily be one of the top 2 or 3 teams they have played all year, and as noted they have beaten one ranked team all year, FAU, at the beginning of the year. They didn’t even play a bad Wisconsin team that well in the CCG.
Iowa State will easily be one of the top 2 or 3 teams they have played all year, and as noted they have beaten one ranked team all year, FAU, at the beginning of the year. They didn’t even play a bad Wisconsin team that well in the CCG.
The other thing that keeps being mentioned is the inability for anyone to simulate what we do on defense in a practice setting. They haven't seen this level of pressure. We know who they are on offense. Our biggest challenge will be matching their energy in the first 5 minutes. They will not be very forgiving if we spot them 10 points early.
On offense what I want to see is Milan getting some isolation within the first few possessions to warm up. Lipsey and Gilbert attacking the basket to keep FTAs/fouls even. Ward moving to the hoop as the dump off. Most of all that extra pass or two that seemed to open everything up for us in the B12 tourney. It looked like a cheat code then and it was missing against WSU.
My guess is if UConn wins, they'll want them to be the last game. So I'd bet a lot of money we'll play the first game on Thursday.
Milan is the key to ISU winning the game, when he is on, it opens up the entire floor, allowing Lipsey and Gilbert to do their thing and drive to the hoop. In the conference tournament, Milan was hitting his shots and the team rolled, yesterday he played like crap in the first half and the team struggled, but when he started hitting his shots in the 2nd half the offense started moving the ball better. If Milan has 15 or so points ISU will win, if he disappears like he did some games and the first half yesterday, ISU will be in trouble.
I thought it was kind of the opposite; if guards are getting to the hoop it loosens things up and gets Milan time and rhythm to shoot.
He had a couple of early open shots that didn't fall but he looked tight and probably from being bothered so much.
Grew up watching Lou Henson and Lon Kruger Illini teams with my Grandma. Mom’s family is all from Danville. Grandma is always excited to talk when ISU takes down Bill Self.
I think the ball pressure will be enough to take Illinois out of their rhythm, but the offense is going to have to be better than it was against Wazzu.
I think the ball pressure will be enough to take Illinois out of their rhythm, but the offense is going to have to be better than it was against Wazzu.
Illinois scares me because they have 3 guys who can score in bunches from outside, attacking the basket and in transition — Shannon, Domask, and Hawkins. Then they have a big banger in the middle in Dainja. I hope we can limit them to half court offense and frustrate them with our pressure. I don’t think they will like grinding out possessions against our defense. Wazzu went late in the shot clock frequently yesterday and they were only in the game because they made about 5 shots in scramble mode when the clock was about to expire.
Last edited:
They were also tied with Morehead State for the first ~26 minutes of the game on Thursday.
Been saying that for weeks. He doesn't win games by himself but we struggle when his part is missing. I don't know what it is, but we can compensate for off games just about anywhere else in the lineup. Maybe it's a freshman thing where if one thing isn't going well everything is off where others turn their efforts to what's working where they're struggling. Maybe he is just unique enough that we don't have a second option for what he does.
Curt and Milan are going to have room to shoot in this one, Illinois has been terrible at defending the 3 point line, ranking 209th in the country. If they can get some down early, we know how much that opens things up for everything else.
Illinois doesn't turn you over and if you can trust the numbers, doesn't really contest hard for rebounds after their own shots, but they are a much better rebounding team than Iowa State. That isn't new for us, I guess.
They have 3 guys who score in double figures but Shannon is the guy they turn to when they need a basket. I imagine Gilbert will be on him much of the time.
Illinois doesn't turn you over and if you can trust the numbers, doesn't really contest hard for rebounds after their own shots, but they are a much better rebounding team than Iowa State. That isn't new for us, I guess.
They have 3 guys who score in double figures but Shannon is the guy they turn to when they need a basket. I imagine Gilbert will be on him much of the time.
I was surrounded by Illinois fans at the game yesterday. They were all fine, but very high on their team. At halftime, I over heard a conversation "so if Illinois doesn't win it all, who will"? The consensus was Purdue.
They were also surprised that Michigan State lost.
They were also surprised that Michigan State lost.
A couple of things stand out - they are #1 on offense without being Top 15 in any specific category. Their point distribution between 3s - 2s and FTs is almost exactly at the national average. We're going to force them to take more contested 3s than they are used to.
On the other side of the ball - they don't force turnovers - AT ALL - and their opponents don't shoot FTs very often, so as a result they have one of the highest FG attempt rates (# of FGs / 100 possessions) in the country. We have the absolute lowest FG attempt rate - almost 25% of our opponents possessions don't have a shot.
Their opponents take very few 3s - they give up a decent average, but 28% of opponent shots are 3s, which is very low (we average 32%, which is pretty low). As a result Illinois' opponents score >58% of their points on 2-pt shots. Definitely a game that Tamin and Keshon can drive and score or distribute
The B1G silo is real.
I've found common ground with Illini fans for thier similar hatred of Iowa.
Have you ever watched the B1G network? It is North Korean level propaganda. You can see how they get this way.
It's funny, I probably watch it the most in August when they start playing replays of football games which is great advertising to get the football feels going.
But holy cow are they next level on living off of fumes of narratives from decades ago about how physical they are, etc.
Illinois is really good and that will be a really tough game to win; they're a 3 seed for a reason, but I wouldn't use 'physical' to describe them or really any current B1G teams.
