IU is shooting lights out and pretty much anything they toss up is going in so pretty hard to beat that if Cats aren't doing the same thing.
Game Thread: Northwestern vs. No. 9 Illinois
- Thread starter mshelton33
- Start date
But the lack of height is not something that's going to go away. The only position we have height is the center position and none of them are particularly good players. As mentioned previously Illinois is taller than us at all of the wing and guard positions by a considerable amount. There are other teams that will have the same advantage.
Clayton, Mullins, Hunger, Martenelli and Berry. Let them finish the game, make mistakes and learn.
Clayton just rejected a screen p, got to the basket and proved he is a true NU hooper by missing the layup. Gets taken out as it's not part of the play.
Clayton just rejected a screen p, got to the basket and proved he is a true NU hooper by missing the layup. Gets taken out as it's not part of the play.
It’s dangerous to assume anything (good or bad) about an NU team based on one game.
We were 10-2 last year at this time, then got blown out at home by Ohio State. I don’t think anyone here reasonably thought at that point that we’d win an NCAA tournament game.
Illini made everything tonight and we didn’t, they’re the best team in the league other than Purdue. I think we’ll be alright, it was always going to be a fight to get 10 B1G wins again.
Should be a rockin’ home crowd on Saturday night against Sparty. Big game against another bubbly team, bounce back.
I won't count them out but this team needs a wakeup call and fast.
Who cares? Never showed up. Where is the 🧙♂️ that got all the credit for the turnaround? I guess we miss Chase and Robbie on Defense because we sure didn’t play any at all. Luka Donic couldn’t miss either.
Last year's game at Assembly Hall:
Chase put up 3 for 14, with 3 personal fouls, 3 turnovers, and 4 steals
Robbie was 1 for 3, 2 defensive rebounds, 1 block, and 3 personal fouls
This year:
Berry put up 6 for 10, with 2 personal fouls, 1 turnover, and 2 steals
Brooks was 3 for 12, with 2 personal fouls, 4 defensive rebounds, 1 offensive rebound, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers
So I'm not sure we missed last year's guys tonight, unless you want to claim they were the reason IU shot 29% from 3 last year (although Chase was guarding Shannon, who hit 4 of 5 from 3, so...)
Cats just didn't play well in either game outside of Boo.
Hopefully ... HOPEFULLY that's a one night thing.
1) I'm not trying to make any excuses for that defense. It was bad all over the court. But I'd be surprised if we see another performance this year like Domask's.
2) I also hope we don't see another offensive performance like tonight's first half. There were plenty of good missed scoring opportunities from 10 ft or less.
I'm not going to disagree with anyone who wants to tell me how lousy the defense and rebounding are. I'm just hoping this was also a demonstration of how infortunately talented the friggin Illini are as well as the potential for how mediocre the Cats can be. I'm becoming more concerned it's only the latter.
1) I'm not trying to make any excuses for that defense. It was bad all over the court. But I'd be surprised if we see another performance this year like Domask's.
2) I also hope we don't see another offensive performance like tonight's first half. There were plenty of good missed scoring opportunities from 10 ft or less.
I'm not going to disagree with anyone who wants to tell me how lousy the defense and rebounding are. I'm just hoping this was also a demonstration of how infortunately talented the friggin Illini are as well as the potential for how mediocre the Cats can be. I'm becoming more concerned it's only the latter.
Lots of bad real-time takes tonight, lads.
Nobody in purple had a good night. Collins in particular. We really didn't do anything different at any point during the game - on either offense or defense. Its okay, its only one beatdown, but my fear is that the coach will be like a bunch of you folks and (amazingly) blame Nicholson for the loss. (He played 14 minutes.)
Its like a few of you guys went to your first hockey game and blamed the goalie for every goal allowed, then criticized him for not scoring.
Tonight Audige would have made a difference - guarding Domask - but we weren't going to win this one.
Nobody in purple had a good night. Collins in particular. We really didn't do anything different at any point during the game - on either offense or defense. Its okay, its only one beatdown, but my fear is that the coach will be like a bunch of you folks and (amazingly) blame Nicholson for the loss. (He played 14 minutes.)
Its like a few of you guys went to your first hockey game and blamed the goalie for every goal allowed, then criticized him for not scoring.
Tonight Audige would have made a difference - guarding Domask - but we weren't going to win this one.
Nicholson had a real rough start that set the tone for a real rough game. Boo intentionally looked to him on the first possession, and Big Matt was just a step too slow.
No individual is responsible for a 30-point beatdown, but Nicholson was visibly bad while the game was still worth watching.
Illinois looks like a top ten team.
I went to bed with 10 min to go. It was 4 AM for me though.
Board wildly overreacting, kind of expected.
We can go back to being more fluid like we were against ASU. They’re not a great team but had a couple of good wins after being decimated by us.
I guess the point is they we did not become incapable of competing yesterday. Keep fighting, we are capable of 12
Board wildly overreacting, kind of expected.
We can go back to being more fluid like we were against ASU. They’re not a great team but had a couple of good wins after being decimated by us.
I guess the point is they we did not become incapable of competing yesterday. Keep fighting, we are capable of 12
Yes there are a lot of bad takes. However, there is just no way you can spin this wasn’t a horrendous game for Big Matt. I like the man and think he can be valuable to our defense, but yesterday he was unplayable. The first half he didn’t collect a stat other than a foul! He was slow on his doubles, his screens were weak, and he made no effort to roll to the rim, after the screen. He wasn’t the reason we lost, but he was flat out bad. Hate to be so harsh on the kid, but he has to decide if this will ever happen again and not put it in the hands of CCC.
As Hummel said, we WILL double down low. That is what the 🧙♂️ teaches. If we are painfully slow on rotations, we will lose. We don’t have the defensive stopper in Chase anymore, so there weren’t an abundance of options to stop Luka Donic once he got going.
As far as offense, we are usually playing 4 on 5. Big Matt is so limited from the outside that Hawkins just backed off and camped out waiting for Boo to drive. Hunger is better offensively but was a pylon on defense yesterday. Barney is clearly bothered by the hand/finger problem and lacks the aggression we saw most of last year.
The good news it was just one game and drastic personnel changes would be foolish. I still think this team gets to 10 B1G wins. We have to get our defense straight as it was horrible. We miss Chase and Robbie ( gasp) on the defensive end. There are two sides to the game.
No overreaction because Matt has been so bad all year but I’d start Hunger against MSU. Let Matt come in if we have the lead for defensive purposes.
I barely commented on big Matt tonight, but unfortunately he’s been bad this year and his minutes have reflected it. It’s very very disappointing.
The play from all three 5s is pretty obvious.
But Langborg's defense is right up there on my list of concerns. He's constantly losing his man and a step slow on rotation. His minutes can't be limited by his defense, but I don't blame Collins either for pulling him the way he was playing.
I love the potential consistency of Langborg, but unfortunately his limits are starting to show. It's also not going to be too long before the league figures out all they need to limit him is have him put the ball on the floor.
But Langborg's defense is right up there on my list of concerns. He's constantly losing his man and a step slow on rotation. His minutes can't be limited by his defense, but I don't blame Collins either for pulling him the way he was playing.
I love the potential consistency of Langborg, but unfortunately his limits are starting to show. It's also not going to be too long before the league figures out all they need to limit him is have him put the ball on the floor.
I've seen Langborg do some good stuff putting the ball on the floor. He took some rough fade aways last night, and he sometimes plays outside himself, but he isn't the worst ball handler on the team.
Cats scored 66, which is pretty much par for the team this season outside a couple of big nights. We were missing a bigger night from either Langborg or Barnhizer, but otherwise I think offensively this is where the team lives.
So yeah, this was mostly a defensive failure, but I'm hopeful most of the conference won't consist of players who are both bigger and more athletic than our boys. They can work with one or the other, but both is obviously too much.
Cats scored 66, which is pretty much par for the team this season outside a couple of big nights. We were missing a bigger night from either Langborg or Barnhizer, but otherwise I think offensively this is where the team lives.
So yeah, this was mostly a defensive failure, but I'm hopeful most of the conference won't consist of players who are both bigger and more athletic than our boys. They can work with one or the other, but both is obviously too much.
This has been the obvious problem with Langborg from the moment he came here. He was always going to be a defensive liability to some extent, and while he is a solid offensive player, he isn’t actually an elite shooter who can outscore infinite defensive shortcomings on any given night. We have yet to fully learn how severe his defensive shortcomings are, and last night was a down data point we’ll have to keep an eye on.
Did NU get ANY defensive rebounds? It seemed like every time NU missed a shot, Illinois got the rebound.
Seems that all of the offensive rebounds they got were in a single possession, but they actually got eight offensive boards throughout the game. Some of them must have been in the second half when I was no longer 100% focused on the game.
Cats had 8 OR and 16 DR vs 9 and 26 for the orange guys. The obvious problem is the other team scored on almost every one of their rebounds and the Cats only did once or twice.
That and a percentage issue. Illinois got those 9 offensive rebounds on only 21 misses. Cats had 8 on 36 misses. 43% vs 22% offensive rebound percent is... not good.
