+/- for the pain in Champaign

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Illinois jumped on NU after about 5 minutes of ugly basketball, pummeling the Cats 38-16 to take a 43-21 lead at halftime.

Player	Minutes	NU Pts	ILL Pts	Raw +/-	Player +/-	Net +/-	Box Pts
Windham	12	31	25	+6	+1.72	+2.92	5.50
Mullins	5	15	7	+8	+0.34	+1.94	2.30
Hunger	8	19	19	+0	+1.62	+1.62	3.00
Fitzmorris	14	35	31	+4	+0.14	+0.94	5.30
Ciaravino	20	44	41	+3	-0.92	-0.32	3.85
Berry	30	56	66	-10	+1.63	-0.37	7.50
Nicholson	14	15	26	-11	+0.94	-1.26	1.30
Leach	35	60	73	-13	-0.45	-3.05	6.20
Martinelli	36	59	76	-17	-1.85	-5.25	3.20
Barnhizer	26	36	51	-15	-3.17	-6.17	-1.00

No game ball for this one, but KJ Windham played better than any other Wildcat. The talented freshman played a brief 2:32 segment in the first half and NU got outscored 6-0 as Barnhizer, Berry and Martinelli all missed shots and Illinois made a couple 3 pointers. That bought Windham a seat on the bench until there was 9:30 to play, with NU trailing 64-43. From there NU outscored Illinois 31-19, a torrid scoring pace. Most of the damage occurred in the last 3 minutes, when Angelo Ciaravino joined Ty Berry, Fitzmorris and Mullins on the court for a 14-4 blitz that gave Illinois coach Underwood something to be mad about.

Angelo Ciaravino was +3 and continues to look like he belongs. Jalen Leach, Martinelli and Barnhizer were not good at all in the first half. To his credit, Jalen Leach kept playing, made some shots and didn't turn the ball over in the 2nd half. Justin Mullins, Luke Hunger and Keenan Fitzmorris all played reasonably well when Illinois was holding a 20 point lead. It should be noted that Illinois played 8 guys for the game, so we faced Illinois' rotation throughout. Still, all 3 of those guys made shots - maybe that will help them going forward.

The starting lineup of Nicholson/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Leach/Ciaravino played to a 12-12 draw over 6:34.
The old starters Nicholson/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Berry/Leach played 5:25 and only mustered 3 points, allowing 8.
When that specific lineup is ineffective, we lose. When they're effective, we win. They were effective against Michigan (27-22) but the refs kicked Leach out, so we lost that one in OT.

Barnhizer needs to get healthy.

 

[Hungry Jack]

I could not bear to watch the second half. Little Hungry and I went to the climbing gym instead. How is it that Keenan FitzMorris was part of 35 points and 14 minutes?

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I could not bear to watch the second half. Little Hungry and I went to the climbing gym instead. How is it that Keenan FitzMorris was part of 35 points and 14 minutes?

You missed a few bright spots! Yes we were down 20 for most of the 2nd half, essentially trading baskets. Nicholson was benched 2 minutes into the 2nd half. Collins took Barnhizer out at the 12 minute mark, Cats trailing 59-39.

At the 9:30 mark Windham subbed in for Ciaravino. After that things picked up - neither team played much defense. Windham handled the ball a lot. Hunger made a 3 pointer and a midrange jumper. Leach and Martinelli scored a couple times. Windham picked up a loose ball and sprinted in to make a contested layup. Windham bounced an entry pass to Fitzmorris who immediately turned and swished a hook shot from about 8 feet.

With 2:50 to go, we were still down 79-60. Ciaravino and Mullins in for Martinelli and Leach.

Windham made a 3. Mullins scored at the basket. Mullins made a 3, assisted by Windham.

With a minute to go it was 80-68.

Illinois missed a 3, got the rebound, but Berry stole it and went the length of the court to lay it in.
Windham jumped in and stole the inbounds pass and scored.
80-72 with 44 seconds left. The coaches and some of the guys on the bench awoke from their naps.
Illinois called time out.

NU fouled. The Illinois guy missed both free throws, but we didn't get the rebound cleanly and the ball went off Mullins' toe and out of bounds. We fouled again and Illinois made both free throws.

Windham threw a sweet little flip pass to a well-guarded Fitzmorris cutting down the lane. He grabbed it up high, took two steps and slammed it.

Illinois made 1 of 2 free throws, but Windham tried a half court lob to a streaking Ciaravino but the pass hit the rim. So we lost by 9.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Thanks PWB. Sounds like the B team got in some good practice minutes.

 

[hdhntr1]

I could not bear to watch the second half. Little Hungry and I went to the climbing gym instead. How is it that Keenan FitzMorris was part of 35 points and 14 minutes?

Well he did score 8 pts so that helped. Got a couple rebounds as well, His O was actually better than we have seen out of the center position. Had a couple 7 ft hook shots that were pretty nice and had another flash to the basket plus couple FTs Looked like he is getting up to speed and feeling more comfortable. More actual O out of center position than we have seen.

No doubt Nicholson does a solid job on D and currently better than FItzmorris by a long ways but his O is pretty non existent. Lob to a dunk or basically nothing.

I thought Fitz Morris was an actual bright spot and there were not many