Fighting Illini Thread

[deavin_17]

I'm curious to see what happens when 3's arent going in as well. I do see Abrams making a big jump in his play so far. Really wish Leonard would have come back.

[LASportsFan1996]

USC fan here, we played Illinois in the Maui tourney and Illinois looked pretty good, they couldn't miss a ****ing shot in the 1st half of that game Jesus... GL the rest of the way

[gocubs2118]

The terrible part about that tournament was even though they won it, Illinois only got one win over a NCAA tournament team. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far, just wish they had more of a post presence for when the 3s aren't falling.

[Madden King]

I really wasn't sure what to think about Groce, but they are off to a good start under is leadership and he seems like he's gonna be a little tougher with the guys more than Weber was. I just want to see how well he recruits in the future. All I know is that they need to find a way to keep the local players in the state and going to Champaign, especially the Chicago guys.

[gocubs2118]

What a clutch shot by Griffey, he's been really good so far this year. Hopefully nothing is seriously hurt with Tracy.

[metsfaninSTL]

what a game! should not have been that close though but I will take that win

[metsfaninSTL]

What a clutch shot by Griffey, he's been really good so far this year. Hopefully nothing is seriously hurt with Tracy.

Griffey's my guy.

[DamnGoat]

Whoa...didn't see this game today, but was there any reason in particular that Illinois struggled with Gardner-Webb in Champaign?

That's the type of team you should beat pretty easily.

[bootsy]

Whoa...didn't see this game today, but was there any reason in particular that Illinois struggled with Gardner-Webb in Champaign?

That's the type of team you should beat pretty easily.

It's called a trap game, a let down game, a game right after winning a prestigous pre-season tournament and flying home from Hawaii. It happens, Illinois isn't the only team to struggle with Gardner-Webb. They were up 20 on Iowa and played North Carolina pretty tough until midway thru the 2nd half. You gotta stop putting high expectations on Illinois right now. They probably aren't as good as they played in Maui. Just enjoy this season for whatever you get.

[metsfaninSTL]

Jumped up to #22!

[ugottabjoshinme]

I'm just happy to see a fun team again. No more running down the shot clock and having McCamey or Paul jack up an awful shot.

I've still got to question though, what happens when we aren't raining down 3s? This has been a fun team to watch so far though.

It's going to be a problem sometime soon. Something like 44% of their offense has been from 3. Surely that pace can't continue

[DamnGoat]

It's called a trap game, a let down game, a game right after winning a prestigous pre-season tournament and flying home from Hawaii. It happens, Illinois isn't the only team to struggle with Gardner-Webb. They were up 20 on Iowa and played North Carolina pretty tough until midway thru the 2nd half. You gotta stop putting high expectations on Illinois right now. They probably aren't as good as they played in Maui. Just enjoy this season for whatever you get.

I don't necessarily have high expectations for this team and expect them to struggle quite a bit in conference play (B1G is going to be ridiculously tough this year), but I do expect them to beat so-so teams handily, that's all I was saying. Also, didn't realize Gardner-Webb had played some other teams tough, so it's not that big of a deal.

Anyway, I'm interested to see how they play against GT tonight.

[CubbieSteve]

Our game is to shoot 3's, when they aren't falling, you just got to keep jacking them up if they're good looks.

[deavin_17]

It's going to be a problem sometime soon. Something like 44% of their offense has been from 3. Surely that pace can't continue

That's the system Groce runs. Let's the PG's run the offense and they shoot the 3 when open and try to cause a lot of turnovers. It worked in Ohio and so far has worked in Illinois, hopefully it continues tonight vs GT!

[gocubs2118]

Bertrand is one hell of a weapon to have off the bench. Another solid win tonight. I'm so glad Groce is the coach, the last couple years Bruce was here, I was just so apathetic towards Illinois basketball. Groce has made Illinois basketball exciting again, can't wait to see what he can do with his own recruits.