Before we get too excited about the win....

[mikewebb68]

If you compared the Maryland-Purdue level of play compared to our game it was DRAMATICALLY different. Our game was a sloppy, turnover filled foulfest, in stark contrast to the fluid first game of the doubleheader.

Illinois still projects to be 12th in the BIG, and nothing I saw tonight changes that notion. And we were lucky to beat them. Our late game offensive gave me flashbacks to three years ago. . 4 TOs in a ROW in crunch time? Seriously? But we still managed to win the game because Illinois was just as inept....

Need to step up our level of play massively vs. Purdue, or else it will be a long, long afternoon...

 

[thewildcat2011]

Right now we are just plain not good.

Illinois is also bad, as are their fans, and their coach.

Happy that Leron Black cooled off late and couldn’t stick the knife in.

 

[WildcatfanChris17]

If you compared the Maryland-Purdue level of play compared to our game it was DRAMATICALLY different. Our game was a sloppy, turnover filled foulfest, in stark contrast to the fluid first game of the doubleheader.

Illinois still projects to be 12th in the BIG, and nothing I saw tonight changes that notion. And we were lucky to beat them. Our late game offensive gave me flashbacks to three years ago. . 4 TOs in a ROW in crunch time? Seriously? But we still managed to win the game because Illinois was just as inept....

Need to step up our level of play massively vs. Purdue, or else it will be a long, long afternoon...

We need to stop turning the ball over! If we continue playing this way it will be a long season. But at least we won this one!

 

[rwhitney014]

Right now we are just plain not good.

Illinois is also bad, as are their fans, and their coach.

Happy that Leron Black cooled off late and couldn’t stick the knife in.

I'm just happy he didn't get too aggravated.

 

[catfans5]

Right now we are just plain not good.

Illinois is also bad, as are their fans, and their coach.

Happy that Leron Black cooled off late and couldn’t stick the knife in.

I was at the game and I have to disagree with you about their coach. His team played very hard. I think Illinois was well prepared to defend Mac at the end of game and knew where he would go with the ball which led to turnovers. I thought Illinois was very athletic, played hard on defense, never gave up, did not take the really stupid shot, and is still learning with their new coach. Unlike a Groce team, when we had foul trouble, they drove to the hoop. They isolated our defensive weaknesses very well. Their point guard was quick as hell. I think Illinois has a better coach than previously and we should hope the FBI gets him soon because I think if he gets the talent, they will be good.

 

[thewildcat2011]

I was at the game and I have to disagree with you about their coach. His team played very hard. I think Illinois was well prepared to defend Mac at the end of game and knew where he would go with the ball which led to turnovers. I thought Illinois was very athletic, played hard on defense, never gave up, did not take the really stupid shot, and is still learning with their new coach. Unlike a Groce team, when we had foul trouble, they drove to the hoop. They isolated our defensive weaknesses very well. Their point guard was quick as hell. I think Illinois has a better coach than previously and we should hope the FBI gets him soon because I think if he gets the talent, they will be good.

Meh, they played hard on the edge of dirty, barely passed the ball, and folded at the end. They “isolated our defensive weakness” in the same way every team with a halfway quick guard does...we are slow on the perimeter, it’s not some sort of genius move. Overall, they didn’t get many open shots out of their actual sets. Hit a few hard, contested shots.

Yeah he’s probably better than their previous coach, but didn’t see much there.

Reality is, we’ve definitely lost something from last year. Rebounding toughness/awareness doesn’t seem there. Defensive rotations are mediocre at best. Shooting is still mediocre. At least we hit some free throws. We will see how this team evolves and hopefully we can fix a few of the issues with more experience (though, remember, this is in no way a young team, so who knows).

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

I thought The Fighting Undies were much better than they were last year. They will be in the back half if the B1G, but they will pull a few upsets due to a decent Defense.

 

[Fitz51]

We should be happy that we got a win, but the happiness stops there. Team looks bad.

 

[NURoseBowl]

We've yet to play nearly as well as I still think we can/will play this season, so I'm not fawning over the Ilini here . . . but they seem to have the athletes to play an aggressive pressure defense, the kind that can turn the tide in a game rather quickly. I don't know enough about Underwood to comment on how (un)ethical he may be, but he did seem to maximize the talent he had on hand, at least to my untrained eye. In short (which has never been my strength ), I'm not ready to anoint them "top half of the Big Ten", but I don't think they'll be quite the pushover I'd originally thought.