Month: January 2022

Categories
Illini basketball

Notes from NUrdland

Staying old requires getting old, and RJ Melendez got older in Evanston. So did Podz.

RJ demonstrated an understanding of geometry that older Illini teammates might wish to study. He used the glass to score a much-needed bucket from an unfortunate angle, and within a pack of Wildcats.

Brad Underwood said he’d planned to play RJ against Michigan State, but somehow the match-ups weren’t right. After Saturday’s win, Underwood was unable to refrain from describing RJ as “bouncy,” which sounds cute and Tigger-ish, but also describes one of RJ’s most important functions: He can rebound without having worked himself into position. i.e. he jumps over people.

RJ is instant offense, and he’s unafraid to throw himself into the mix. For a team that’s run heartburn-inducing offense in recent games, RJ is the Rolaids.

Podz for three

The Podz substitution was obviously a response to Alfonso Plummer’s fourth foul. Would Underwood have inserted him otherwise?

It doesn’t matter. When his number was called, Podz was ready. He scored a lay-up on the next possession.

The box score shows no rebounds, steals or blocked shots for Brandin. But if statisticians tracked floor burns, he would have been team leader. Coaches track floor burns. They track hockey assists, and box-outs.

Brandin acquitted himself in those crucial six minutes and 19 seconds, when the Illini turned a deficit into victory.

That reliability means Underwood can trust him again in the future. It didn’t go unnoticed that Podz, like Da’Monte, can defend multiple positions.

Podz checks Pete Nance

CONCUSSED

Kofi Cockburn confirmed (after the Northwestern game) that he appealed (during the Purdue game) to referee DJ Carstensen about Zach Edey’s elbow.

When that elbow whiplashed Kofi’s head, none of Carstensen, Bo Boroski or Brian Dorsey saw any problems. It might have been ruled a flagrant foul. They saw it as incidental contact. Or maybe they didn’t see it at all.

Ed Hightower watched the game at Northwestern

The Big Ten knows its officiating hasn’t been up to snuff lately. That’s why Dr. Ed Hightower sat on the aisle, about ten rows up from the Wildcats bench. He was there, he said, on behalf of the commissioner.

Hightower wore a conference issued All-Access pass. He was in the locker rooms before the game, talking to coaches from both teams. He said he’d have follow-up conversations after the game as well.

“We will get better,” he promised.

THE MAN OF THE HOUR

Da’Monte Williams really does love defense. Unflappable as usual, he emoted not at all about his game-saving heroics in Evanston. But as a matter of analysis, he was perfectly willing to engage the topic of Da’Monte Williams All-Time Highlights. Was it that block against Minnesota? How about last year’s three-point daggers against the Buckeyes?

He picked Minnesota, dryly noting that he didn’t get a lot of tick in that game. (Maybe that’s why Richard Pitino didn’t know who we were talking about.)

Categories
Illini Basketball

Working Trip

Suzuki Method fiddlers gathered at center-court, moments before the tip-off of Northwestern’s annual orange invasion. Both teams formed a single-file line, facing each other.

The children bowed their instruments, commemorating a flag that was still there.

Elyjah Williams did not foul Kofi Cockburn here.

Elyjah Williams looked over his shoulder, and spotted a fivesome of six year-olds in kimonos, or whatever martial artists wear. Karate kids. He motioned them toward him. They stepped into the line, between Williams and Pete Nance. He looked down at the youngsters, placed his hand on his heart, and turned back toward the Star Spangled Banner. The kids copied his motions.

Kofi Cockburn releases a shot, Da’Monte Williams sees a path to the basket
Da’Monte navigates a path between Greer & Audige

I don’t remember thinking I’m gonna root for this guy from here on out. I thought it was a nice gesture. I got the idea that he’s a good guy, and that he thinks of others. And then the fiddling stopped and the game began.

Tracking the trajectory

As I watched Williams frustrate Kofi Cockburn, I wasn’t rooting for him. I thought it was kind of funny, because Elyjah obviously had a good attitude about his mountain-sized task.

Kofi broke into a smile momentarily, after some shit-talking. I appreciated that Kofi appreciated Elyjah.

I feel like I’ve written “Kofi is a kind & sensitive person” enough, and I don’t want to be boring. But did I say it enough?

I enjoyed watching two kind, sensitive and enormous people battle vigorously. At an elite level might say this one coach I know.

It’s been a strenuous time in America. These moments gave me some hope.

Meanwhile, Da’Monte continued his years long slog at proving the value of hard work.

It was demonstrably the best moment of the day for Illini fans. But because it was so needed, so necessary; a lot of Illini fans are feeling down about their team.

Maybe that’s appropriate. The #EveryDayGuys have been plenty bad on most recent days. But they closed the deal against Michigan, Michigan State, and this group of NUrds that’s played everyone close, but hasn’t learned how to close the deal.

It took Chris Collins to remind everyone, in 13 heartfelt minutes, how good this Illini team is. How hard it is to shut them down. And how good his Wildcat team is. And how they shut the Illini down,

You’ll feel better for watching it. And it’ll make you feel better about the Illinois performance at Welsh-Ryan.

Categories
Illini basketball

The Pushovers

Did you watch Northwestern choke in Ann Arbor on Wednesday? Well then, you know they can’t close a deal.

Did you watch Illinois cough up a 15-point second-half lead on Tuesday? Well, then you know they can’t close a deal either.

Did you watch Northwestern choke against Michigan State on January 15? Well then you know they can’t finish against Michigan State.

And neither can the Illini. And like Illinois, Northwestern won because MSU choked worse.

Pete Nance – still there

Last year’s game at Evanston was one of the strangest college basketball games ever played. The ‘Cats scored 43 points in the first half, and 13 in the second. They led by 15 and lost by 25.

Boo Buie was 0-6 from the field, dished a single assist and booted the ball twice. He garnered four fouls in fifteen minutes of tick.

Six weeks later in Champaign, Buie shot 4-of-9 from the field, scoring nine points. Again one assist. Again two turnovers. But in that much closer game (a 73-66 Illini win), Buie’s 15 minutes produced FIVE personal fouls.

Just wanna remind you how long some of these people have been in college.

Buie didn’t play in the ‘Cats best recent performance against the Illini, the too close for comfort 75-71 Illini win of January 2020. That game (in Champaign) saw lots of Pat Spencer, the gritty 5th-year transfer who spent his first four years playing lacrosse. Remember that guy?

Then, two years ago at Evanston, Buie shot 4-12 (0-5 arc) in a 74-66 loss, again tallying four fouls, but this time in a reasonable 33 minutes.

Boo Buie, Northwestern’s leader & best player, has been terrible to invisible against Illinois.

A reversion to the mean isn’t necessarily in the cards for Boo. After all, the defensive nemeses who shut frustrated him in the past are still playing for Illinois.

But you feel like he might possibly have a better shooting night for once. Like Alfonso Plummer, he doesn’t need a lot of time or space to get his shot off.

This is an official Northwestern document. Gotta love it.

The ‘Cats top scorer is Pete Nance, whose recent success makes you wonder why he plays for Northwestern. His dad was an NBA all-star. Surely he could have gone to a school with academic chops that also knows how to play basketball?

Basketball purists will appreciate the Nance development. He averaged 13 minutes per game as a freshman, on a team that starred Dererk Pardon and Vic Law. But Nance was also behind fellow “First-Year” Miller Kopp, who finally gave up on The Evanston Dream and became Indiana’s worst starter. Despite the pedigree, Chris Collins didn’t rush the Nance development. Pete’s numbers have increased & improved each year.

2.9

8.5

11.1

16

Pete will encounter Da’Monte Williams tomorrow. If he’s successful against Da’Monte, bully for him. Sometimes it’s nice to root for the underdog.

The pivot is a point of concern with Kofi Cockburn’s status uncertain. Northwestern’s bigs are Ryan Young, who doesn’t start, and Robbie Beran, who does. These guys combine for about 40 minutes and a little more than 5 fouls per game.

Young is considered the more dynamic offensive option, and that’s why Northwestern sucks so much. He’s the last guy you’d want handling the ball with a game on the line. Bad decisions, alligator arms, easily flustered.

If he scores 26 points on 10-14 shooting in a Wildcats win, you can assume this season is, in fact, cursed.

But here’s the thing: All these Wildcats are older and more experienced than they were during any previous game against Illinois. Until the clock reaches 00:00 and the Illini have more points, there’s no reason not to worry about the outcome.

Sleep tight!

MBB-Game-Notes_Gm19Download
Categories
COVID-19 Illini basketball

The Fractured Path

Ben Verdonk personifies the Good Guy. Da’Monte Williams epitomizes coachable selflessness. You want to root for them.

When ‘Monte drove from wing to paint during that 40 Year Desert of Illini scoring on Tuesday, you and I cringed. His forte has never been finishing in the lane.

Ben was the only guy available for a dump-off. Illinois really needed a bucket.

You & I don’t want Da’Monte driving to the low-post, and we don’t want Ben taking passes in the low-post. We want Andre Curbelo dribbling, and Kofi waiting for the lob.

We can’t have nice things. We’re Illinois.

Or that’s the meme, anyhow. In fact, Illinois remains in great position to win the B1G. Wisconsin and Michigan State jumped from middling pre-season expectations to the top of the standings, almost as if they were Wisconsin and Michigan State. (When will people learn?) But Illinois is right there, like 2007-2019 hadn’t happened.

Olds remember conversations including the Illini, right up there with Badgers and Spartans.

Trent drew the defense out of bounds while passing to Ben. Ben converted.

Purdue, the all-time leader in Big Ten Conference titles, is in good shape to capture a 25th.

But between COVID rescheduling, inevitable injuries and off nights; there’s plenty of opportunity for Illinois to scrape & claw its way to a title. And even though Da’Monte’s penetration produced no points on Tuesday, I’m glad Brad Underwood allowed it to happen.

No baskets, one loose ball & one poke in the eye

After complaining about Bruce Weber’s micromanaging for all of 2010-12, I feel ashamed for questioning Brad Underwood’s patience.

Illinois did not, as history won’t remember, get that bucket. As it happens, they didn’t need it. By the slimmest of margins, and possibly because Williams and Verdonk were on the floor, the Illini held off a vastly overrated but still defensively sound Michigan State team.

I was reminded once again that between you, me and Brad Underwood; one of us gets paid three million dollars to run the Illini basketball program. When that final two-tenths of a second had finally ticked, that guy had beaten yet another Top 10 team.

Malik Hall’s first of two free-throws bounced out

History will probably also forget that no one expected Illinois to beat MSU on Thursday, with the notable exception of Las Vegas. Illini fans watched the previous game, at Maryland, and decided that the dream had died. Illinois basketball was a mirage, a fantasy. They’d just woken up with a hangover and regretted ever investing emotional capital in this squad.

Luke Goode’s forearm rebound

How did Brad Underwood turn the hive mind of his team, the same team that lacked urgency in College Park, into a ramshackle collection of scrappers that beat a ranked team while BOTH of its most heralded players sat out?

This is why I was disappointed, in hindsight, that Matt Stevens didn’t cover the Maryland game for IlliniGuys.

Larry Smith was the IlliniGuy covering the game at Maryland, accompanied by his beautiful wife Rita. It was great seeing them, and Larry is both the consummate professional and a gregarious colleague.

But Matt Stevens would have been useful to have there. Among the regular Illini media pool, he’s the best at probing sports psychology issues. He’s subtle about it. He knows how to ask meaningful questions without making people uncomfortable.

Whatever happens going forward this season, the Maryland game was some kind of turning point. And I’d like to figure out how Underwood managed it. The path to a championship veered off course there. How did he get it back?

We learned later, of course, that Belo was sick and Trent injured. That’s part of the problem. But another reason for the “lack of urgency” was that guys were playing unfamiliar roles. Ben isn’t accustomed to starting Big Ten games. Da’Monte hasn’t been a “scorer” since his high school days.

If Underwood cultivated hesitancy in these guys, at this point, he’d be shooting himself in the foot. So whether he cringed along with you and me, he didn’t show it. That’s the important thing.

(credit: U of I Archives)

NOT ABOUT BASKETBALL

This afternoon in Champaign, the mortal remains of Associate Vice Chancellor Emeritus, former Dean of Students and noted martini quaffer Clarence Shelley will lie in repose at the Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church.

If you ever set foot in Champaign, you were probably friends with Shelley. If you were a black UIUC student trying to acclimate to campus life in the latter half of the 20th century, he counseled you, supported you, and kept you on the straight & narrow.

The author & Clarence Shelley, circa 1996

You can read about Shelley at WCIA, at Smile Politely, in the News-Gazette and its offshoot publication about homes. His obituary is here.

My mother had a friendship with Shelley in the 1970s. He steered black students toward her literature classes when she was a TA before earning her PhD. in 1974. I learned about that in the 1990s, when I befriended Shelley in a reviving downtown Champaign. We were both martini traditionalists.

To the extent that Illinois Basketball needs urban black people to spend their college years among the soybeans & hogs, Dean Shelley was the man who paved a path through the corn. But you didn’t have to play basketball for Shelley to be important. You didn’t even have to be a student, or black.

Very few of us will have an impact on so many lives. So if you can’t make it to the visitation, pour one out for Shelley tonight.

Categories
Illini basketball

Paint War

Ben Verdonk is the perfect MSU Spartan, and if he were playing for them, he’d be their latest Hutson or Anagonye — a guy who sets screens, rebounds, passes and converts enough put-backs to maintain a scoring average.

But if Ben is tonight’s starting center, MSU can shift its defensive focus to the perimeter. That’s why we’re all hoping Kofi Cockburn will pull a Curbelo-esque surprise tonight.

Intriguingly, Tomm Izzo expects Kofi to play.

Trent Frazier strips Fatts Russell

Lithe MSU center Marcus Bingham has never been an offensive threat, but he’s capable of bothering opposing bigs on defense.

His slight build means a muscular butt and a well placed elbow can shift him on the low post, but he still has those gangly arms. He’s blocked 50% more shots this season than Kofi & Omar Payne combined.

The MSU offense is spread around in an annoyingly even fashion. You know that the point & the pivot are not their primary scoring positions, and that’s nice and old school. But anyone among Gabe Brown, Malik Hall and Max Christie might be the hot-hand/leading scorer on any given night.

Brown and Christie are less effective than Hall, but they get a lot more tick and launch a lot more shots. Harassing Brown defensively probably won’t get him to stop shooting, but certainly has the potential to ruin his evening. 30 minutes of the Da’Monte Williams treatment could make it a fun night for Illini fans.

Siccing Luke Goode on opponents is legal and fair.

Unlike Illinois, the Spartans can win without heaving a lot of three-pointers. Where the Illini launch 26 threes per game, MSU shoots only 19. It’s not because they’re bad at it. They convert 39%.

Contrast Purdue, which shoots 24/game and hits 40%. MSU is pretty good, but more reliant on turning defense into offense as the saying goes. Rebounding & transition remains The Izzo Way.

The surefire way to beat these Spartans is to get hot from three, which means Alfonso Plummer needs to hit about 7-of-10, Jacob Grandison 5-of-7 and Trent Frazier 5-of-9. Seventeen makes in twenty-six tries will get the job done, assuming everyone learned his lesson on defensive gaps — the Achilles Heel against Donta Scott and the Terps.

Andre Curbelo is sick, so even if he plays tonight, he won’t be Andre the Magician. Illinois needs to keep turnovers at 10 or below to have a chance; so a feverish, disoriented Belo won’t help the cause.

Categories
Illini Basketball

HexFinity

The last time Illinois visited College Park was also the last game before The Ayo Era truly began. Like a lot of games against Maryland, it ended stupidly.

You’ve tried to forget Anthony Cowan’s 35-footer, and in part, you’ve been successful: You still remember it, but you think it won the game.

It didn’t. It tied the game.

Then things got stupider.

Illinois had this game in its pocket, until it didn’t.

The Illini had a chance to win in regulation. Or just kill the clock.

Instead, Cowan & Sticks Smith tackled Andres Feliz, stole his ball, and ran to the other end. One free-throw and one intentional miss later, Maryland had capped off yet another improbable defeat of Illinois.

Illinois led 57-48 with 4:12 remaining. Closing a game on a 1-11 run was the only way they could manage to lose, so that’s what they did.

It was arguably even stupider than the statistically impossible Terrapin comeback in Brad Underwood’s first year, when Da’Monte Williams had not yet become the unshakablest Illini.

After the December Debacle, Quam Dosunmu (the elder) was possessed by frustration. He hadn’t steered his son to the Illinois program to watch Andres Feliz get ripped in crunch time. His family hadn’t traveled to Washington to witness ignominious defeat.

Quam’s rant went on for quite some time, and I probably wasn’t the only one who listened to it. I was however, the only one present while he was ranting to me.

I never asked Quam’s permission to share his words, and I didn’t record them, or even make notes afterward. But none of that matters. Once The Legend of Ayo became a matter of record, the Dosunmu family no longer needed to campaign.

It wasn’t unreasonable to put the ball in Andre Feliz’s hands. After all, he’d closed the first half of that same game effectively.

But obviously, Illinois needed to ensure, from that point on, that Ayo Dosunmu had the ball when the game was on the line.

The rest is history.

Brad Underwood remembers the violence and the non-call, but he doesn’t remember the Xfinity Center as the place where he realized that, going forward, Illinois basketball would look to Ayo Dosunmu to close the door.

Or at least he’s not saying it.

Presumably, Quam shared his thoughts with Brad, too. The Dosunmus had an access that most families don’t enjoy. Was that part of the deal? Your guess is as good as mine.

Underwood probably wouldn’t like to develop a reputation for heeding the demands of disgruntled parents, because all parents are disgruntled at some point, and many carry a low intensity grudge throughout their son’s eligibility.

All we know is that after the game at Maryland, Things Changed.

Underwood is not the kind of guy who’s put off by a grudge, of course. He thrives on them. You noticed, as the team prepared for its first B1G road trip of this season, that winless at Carver-Hawkeye was made known to everyone. It’s a chip that Underwood carries. He carries that chip for the Xfinity Center, too.

Because Maryland is bad this year, Illinois has a good chance to get Brad his first College Park roadkill. And the truth is, this is a must win for the Illini. They can’t expect to compete for a B1G title if they lose to the last place teams.

Maryland is 1-6 in conference, and 9-9 overall. Their coach quit before the angry mob arrived. Interim coach Danny Manning has already been drummed out of P5 basketball. After getting Tulsa to the dance in his second year, he went 78–111 at Wake Forest.

But he’s 1-and-1 versus Underwood. And Brad knows that, too.

Categories
Illini basketball

Edeyfication

Yesterday’s thesis — that only Illinois could beat Illinois in a match-up with Purdue — did not account for the Carstensen-Boroski-Dorsey triumvirate.

They weren’t the only reason Illinois lost, but a series of bizarre calls and non-calls probably made the difference in a game that was tied at the end, twice

Bo Boroski, Brian Dorsey & DJ Carstensen

Illini Report has no personal enmity for any of these individuals. Boroski is a friendly guy. Carstensen is earnest & nerdy. Dorsey did a good job of ignoring a tirade from Nagash Cockburn.

But officiating really did hurt Illinois and help Purdue yesterday. Even Matt Painter said as much.

A sellout SFC crowd noticed, too. Every time these refs botched a call, the clever SFC production team posted a slow-motion replay on the hall’s giant video screens. Illini fans howled in outrage, their frustration growing louder with each successive injustice.

Maybe the worst calls were non-contact “fouls” that went against Illinois. But Kofi Cockburn might argue that Carstensen’s lenience toward Zach Edey’s elbows was the major problem. Cockburn repeatedly gestured to Carstensen that he’d been hooked. Carstensen offered no response or acknowledgment.

Kofi tried to get DJ’s attention.

The Illini defensive strategy mirrored its recent experience, in which Big Ten teams opted against double-teaming Kofi. The Illinois coaching staff obviously thought Kofi could guard Edey by himself. Or perhaps the staff was (reasonably) terrified by all the 40% marksmen waiting on the arc if & when the defense collapsed to help in the paint.

When Carstensen decided that Edey would have full use of his elbows, the plan crumbled. On to strategy #2: Deny Edey the ball.

That didn’t work either.

Edey scored against Cockburn at will. He scored behind Omar Payne. If Painter had allowed Edey to keep going, rather than substituting Trevion Williams at regular intervals, Edey would have converted 10 lay-ups by halftime. He made six in eleven minutes.

But the other half of the strategy was working. Purdue missed its first six attempts from the arc, and Sasha Stefanovic finished the half 0-2 on threes. Illinois had picked its poison, and the poison was killing them.

Illinois’s second half poison wasn’t as much of a choice as a necessity. They held Edey to three FGs in 13 minutes, but denying his opportunities allowed Stefanovic to go wild from the arc. Sasha drained 4-of-5 in those 20 minutes.

If Andre Curbelo hadn’t made a surprise comeback, Illinois would have lost by double-digits, in regulation.

Curbelo’s return now forces Brad Underwood to choose which starter won’t get as much tick as he’d been getting. Jacob Grandison sat for almost nine minutes in the first half against Purdue, and more than five of the second.

Da’Monte Williams played about 17:30 for each half, and every minute of overtime. Trent Frazier played even more, including all of both OTs.

Because Alfonso Plummer has been cold in B1G play, and because his defense is regarded as the worst among the starting perimeter players; he seems like the obvious choice to sit more. But he buried 6-of-12 against Purdue and remains Illinois’s second-leading scorer. Without him, Purdue wins in regulation.

Andre Curbelo started giving instructions as soon as he entered the game.

It’s always a good problem to have, or so the saying goes. But because Illinois is competing for a championship, this personnel question takes on an importance John Groce never had to contemplate, even when he repeated that a single addition changes the entire team.

Different line-ups might be capable of defeating the B1G’s top 10 teams. But the question now is whether Illinois can beat the Badgers on Groundhog’s Day, or arrive in West Lafayette, on February 10th, with a better plan of action.

Categories
Illini basketball

The Skeptic

Matt Painter stands alone among B1G coaches in a category that should be as important to you as it is to me: He explains basketball comprehensibly, comprehensively & eloquently.

John Beilein and Bo Ryan are gone. Paint is now in a league of his own in this capacity.

He’s also known for developing bigs. Even more so than Tom Izzo, whose reputation always begins & ends with the word “rebounding.”

During Illinois basketball’s 40 years in the desert (2007-2019), a lot of Purdue’s bigs ate our lunch. As did their guards. And wings.

Their cheerleaders ate our lunch. Even their pre-game hype video ate our lunch.

But you’ll have noticed that Things Changed when Brad Underwood established himself in Champaign. Purdue was 2x guaranteed losses for a while, there. That’s no longer the case.

2022 is a weird & disappointing year for the Boilermakers. Pre-season darlings, they’ve struggled to win the games they’ve won versus legit competition. Is North Carolina good this year? Is Villanova?

NC State is not, and nor is Butler. Florida State might get better.

These are the teams Purdue beat, sometimes in chinny chin chin fashion.

Somebody needs to fill the rankings, and Carolina and Villanova are media darlings. So they were ranked.

Fine.

More important is what Purdue’s done in conference, which includes a close game with Penn State, a last second home win over Iowa, and a home loss to Wisconsin.

And the Ron Harper moment.

The Robbie Hummel-JaJuan Johnson-E’Twaun Moore class bought Painter a credibility that his Keady Tree roots couldn’t give him at a time when Bruce Weber was killing Illini basketball and Steve Lavin was between jobs.

Painter’s divorce scandal and flirtation with other programs sent a ripple of doubt through the faithful. And then he rebirthed himself. He’s one of the few major college basketball coaches whose job is not in question.

But is his current team any good?

Offensively, they’re amazing, and their offensive prowess stems from the same pick-your-poison 1-2 punch that Illinois likes to employ.

First get the ball to Trevion Williams, then watch him dunk it

Trevion Williams

… or kick it to the wing, where Purdue converts forty-percent of its three-pointers as a team.

Brad Underwood calls them the best offense in the country.

It’s the other end that’s been a problem, and Underwood says the Boilers used the Christmas Break (December 18 to January 10) to shore up a defense that’s let them down in those too-close games.

With Jaden Ivey feeding Williams, and with Williams subsequently finding Ivey on the wing; you’d expect them to be pretty good on that side of the ball. And then there’s the sasquatch Zach Edey, who can be hard to get around at the other end.

But it’s the surrounding cast that should make the difference for the Boilers. Will Sasha Stefanovic finally have a good game against the Illini?

What about this Mason Gillis kid who’s connecting on 55% of his three-pointers? After redshirting as a freshman, he made almost no impact on last year’s game. He got a late start this season after serving a four game suspension for DWI in June. (He played against ‘Nova, not against UNC.)

Which of those guys will exploit Alfonso Plummer? Who will Da’Monte and Jake shut down? Or will Coleman Hawkins again check the beefy 6’6″ shooter?

Mason Gillis scored 2 points in last season’s only match-up between Illinois & Purdue

If Illinois brings its A-game, they’ll beat these guys.

Trent Frazier doesn’t want Ivey to give Fox viewers anything to talk about. Kofi Cockburn will want to show NBA scouts what he can do to a dynamic big man like Williams. And then there’s Omar, whose game seems designed specifically to shut Trevion down.

Kofi’s been great with finding open shooters on the wings, so the only problem of late is that Illinois can’t hit from the arc. If they’re 6-of-24 from deep today, Purdue will win.

Categories
Illini basketball

Inexperience

As Juwan Howard stood to leave the postgame press conference, a youthful visiting reporter turned to another youthful visiting reporter and began verbalizing, at full volume, his talking points.

This cub didn’t notice, a moment later, when Kofi Cockburn & Trent Frazier strode silently into the room, and sat down on the rasied platform. He didn’t hear Kent Brown call for questions. He didn’t hear a question coming from the aide of the room. He just kept talking.

You can hear it in the Room Audio version of the postgame video.

Inexperience.

This youngster knows that when Juwan Howard stands up and leaves the room, the press conference is over. That’s when everyone starts talking. He failed to foresee that procedures might differ outside of Crisler Arena.

A moment later, he finally noticed the snapping fingers and glanced to his left, where Brad Sturdy, Jeremy Werner, your humble servant and perhaps a few other more experienced reporters were dagger-eyeing him to STFU.

He STFUed.

DeVante Jones took Da’Monte’s ball

Inexperience bared its ass throughout Friday’s festivities. Michigan’s inexperienced freshmen played their 14th game, and they have a long way to go before acclimating to the realities of B1G basketball.

Caleb Houstan hasn’t competed against defenders of Illinois’ competence, and it showed. Moussa Diabate hasn’t defended 290 lbs. of pure muscle, and it showed.

When confronted with Omar Payne, Caleb Houstan forgot about Da’Monte Williams

DeVante’ Jones is playing his fifth season of college basketball, and it showed.

Jones’s defense against Trent Frazier was a joy to watch, and Trent not exploding in frustration was even more fun.

Kelly Pfeifer was forced to blow his whistle when Jones pushed Frazier over the line.

Less fun was watching Jones abuse Da’Monte Williams. Five years into his college career, Da’Monte should not be susceptible to pickpocketing, or wrestling. But Jones straight up took Da’Monte’s ball.

Yes, ‘Monte is a small forward playing point by necessity. It’s unreasonable to expect him to execute the PG role at the highest P5 level. But as long as Andre Curbelo is out, ‘Monte will handle the ball. His inexperience is morphing into a practiced understanding of the position. But it would be nice to get Belo back.

Experience doomed the Wolverines, eventually.

The Illini coaching staff was certainly aware that Moussa Diabate is a fouling machine. It’s common for a freshman big.

The triple-team was unsustainable.

Without Hunter Dickinson’s five fouls, without Brandon Johns’s five fouls, and with Jaron Faulds (a guy who’d averaged 5 minutes per game going into Friday night’s match-up against the nation’s most dominant interior beast) the remaining option in the paint, Michigan was in grave danger of going small by process of elimination.

Trent Frazier recognized that Diabate simply couldn’t afford to defend his drives. So Trent drove. And Diabate got out of the way.

By this point, the writing was on the wall for the Wolverines. Had Johns and Dicksinson been available, things might have been different.

And so Michigan dropped to 7-7 on the season. They’ll be good when Illinois visits Crisler on the last weekend in February. They’ll be better still by the Big Ten Tournament.

Eli Brooks popped the ball out of Kofi’s hands. That requires strength.

It was kind of stupid for voting media to anoint a youthful Michigan team in the pre-season, especially because its best defender was also new to Ann Arbor.

But a lot of those guys are recruiting analysts. They’re not wrong in thinking Houston and Diabate are going to be pretty fun, eventually.

The Wolverine faithful thinks Juwan Howard is over his head. But Juwan Howard knew he’d be outmatched by the likes of Tom Izzo, Greg Gard, Mark Turgeon and Fran McCaffery. That’s why he hired Phil Martelli, a guy with decades of head coaching experience.

Juwan isn’t an idiot, but he’s inexperienced. Having Martelli gives him a second set of eyes, and 24 years of institutional memory. They’ll be a pain in the ass in March.

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COVID-19 Illini basketball

The Dodgers

As Kentucky’s 8th-seeded runners-up proved in 2014, a young team can lose a lot of games before hitting its stride. That’s the problem facing Illinois tonight: When will this talented, underperforming Michigan team click?

The Hunter Dickinson-Kofi Cockburn match-up is more media hype than reality. They like each other well enough, and as Coleman Hawkins said Thursday, Kofi’s better.

More intriguing for Illini fans who enjoy worrying : Caleb Houstan. The five-star recruit has started every game at the wing, but he’s shooting just 31% from the arc. In 32 minutes per game, he’s averaging 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds. His 21-28 assist-to-turnover ratio isn’t terrible for a 6’8″ freshman. But it’s not great.

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Another five-star, Francophone freshman Moussa Diabaté has started six games. Basically, journeyman Brandon Johns kept his seat warm while Diabaté got acclimated. Johns has returned to his role as spot filler. Diabaté’s minutes have gone up steadily.

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A 6’11” PF, he’s the Wolverines’ second-leading rebounder with 6.1/game in just under 21 minutes per contest.

His 25 personal fouls is the same as Houstan’s, and just 6 fewer than Dickinson’s, despite playing a total of 250 minutes to their 400. Look for him to be disqualified. Coleman Hawkins will try his damndest to make that happen.

Grad transfer DeVante’ Jones came over from Coastal Carolina to replace Mike Smith in the one year PG role. He leads the team in assists (50 total, 3.8/game) and personal fouls (36) in 27 minutes per game.

He’s also the most accurate shooter from three at 46%, but he’s attempted only 24 on the season. That’s fourth-place on the team, with the center Dickinson not far behind at 17. Houstan has 64 attempts. Super-senior Eli Brooks has launched 65.

Brooks is the last Wolverine of note. At 44 years old, he’s one of those guys who’s “shown flashes” throughout his career. Also a guy who’s earned the trust of two head coaches, because he understands what they want him to do defensively.

Brooks is hitting 37% of his three-pointers this season. It’ll be interesting to see which of Michigan’s guards gets Trent Frazier. Brooks is the more experienced, but disrupting Jones might cause worse outcomes for every Wolverine possession.

Another freshman, SG Kobe Bufkin was B1G Co-Freshman of the Week (with Nebraska’s Bryce McGowens) in mid-December, but pummeling Southern Utah doesn’t prove much. (Tevian Jones scored 4 points in 22 minutes, shot 0-4 from the arc and 2-8 overall. One rebound. Two turnovers.)

The 8 points Bufkin scored against Central Florida might seem more impressive, but Michigan got slaughtered (85-71), so it’s hard to praise anything about that performance.

Bufkin has played in 10 of 13 games, averaging 11 minutes. On the season, he’s made 4-of-14 shots from deep (28.6%). A whole lotta meh.

In short, it’s impossible to predict tonight’s outcome. You just never know when freshman phenoms will have that “breakthrough” game.

Also, we don’t know who’ll suit up, if anyone.