Illinois game thread

Men's Basketball
21

Gameday!

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22

Yep, ucla played some soft defense on Friday. Gave Illinois a lot of freedom that they won’t have today. Could be jarring for those younger guards

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23

Illinois is going to press. On their board they were talking about how their athleticism in the press let them go on that run vs UCLA on top of Baylor using the press to get back into it vs UVA. Whether they start off with the press right off the bat or not idk.

I will say we are actually more athletic and physical than UCLA on the defensive end as @Jerome just said. And the inexperience at their guard spot @TobaccoRdHoo mentioned is ripe for Kihei and Reece to make their life hell.

Dunn and Beekman on Shannon. Kihei, despite the physical limitations, has actually made life hell for these freshmen pgs he has matched up with over his year and Sky Clark doesn’t scare me.

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24

Illinois does a lot of deny passes to off ball guys around ball screens. Similar to Duke and then NCCU for stretches. Can be really effective, especially if we are slow to adjust.

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25

Playing with house money today, let’s play hard and free. Hopefully a good game for either McKneely or Gardner to get the confidence going against legit competition

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26

Guess why teams dont all out press like Baylor did at the end of our game? (Unless you were 80s 90s UNLV or Arkansas)

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27

Some of ya’ll keep doubting :wink:. Hoos win!

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28

We should continue to work inside out, whether it be slashing or Jayden posting up. From there it creates our three pointer opportunities.

29

Emotional hedging. This is between me and my heart. :joy:

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30

And don’t forget “Press-Virginia” in Hugg’s heyday at WVU. But you’re spot on here. Jim Boeheim said as much after the game that shall not be named when asked why he didn’t press all game against us.

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31

Great point on Huggy
 Cincy and WVa
WVU!

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32

Line was +2.5 for the good guys last time I looked a few hours ago.

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33

Tony slacking pregame. We are doomed.

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34

Clean it up Cody

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35

I loved “40 minutes of hell” – both the phrase and the attitude. Make them hate playing you.

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36

Isn’t that pretty much how Virginia plays - make them work for 25 seconds on defense against a patient offense and then pack line them for 30 seconds on the other end. Reason so few coaches/teams have ever been able to speed us up.

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37

Yeah I love it when opposing players complain about what a slog it is to play against Virginia. I don’t want them to enjoy themselves. I don’t want them to feel comfortable. I want them frustrated. That was always my attitude when playing sports, guess there’s some sadist in me lol.
friends sleep GIF

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38

Off to church now. Can’t wait for 1:00 MT! Also happy that @jazznutUVA will be able to get to bed before midnight tonight!

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39

NGL
 I’m pretty happy about that as well.

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40

Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a bit of an emotional let down today and the threes go cold. But if we keep pressure up on D it could work out

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