Illinois matchup

[bawbie]

I wonder if anyone has pressed Illinois consistently? Given that they don't have a natural point guard, it seems like an obvious approach - and it slows them down.

I would expect us to intentionally slow the game down at every chance - including at least a token press and deliberately running the shot clock down. Illinois gets a lot of their offense from fast breaks and attacking early - I think we are perfectly equipped to stop that cold. Note that their fast breaks do NOT come from turnovers, as they are horrible at forcing turnovers.

Fun number - we have forced 624 turnovers on the season. Illinois has forced 313.

 

[Gerbs]

Well the entire Illinois board thinks they'll blow us out of the gym.

I don’t understand why people post this? You mean fans of our opponent thinks they are going to win? Shocking. I’m furious

 

[bawbie]

That UCLA team had some dudes on it. Jason Kapono, Matt Barnes

That game was a blast.

I watched them throw lob after lob in their 2nd round game against Maryland (in the Metrodome!) and said at the time that our guard pressure on defense would shut that down cold - and that was correct. They couldn't do anything against us offensively.

 

[cowgirl836]

Sean May, I forgot about him. I remember in our tourney game against them in 2005, the commentator was describing his day trying to make it sound like Sean May was some hardass grinder.

"Sean May wakes up every day at 7am to work out. Then, he takes a nap. Then, he goes to class. Then, he goes to practice."

Classes that weren't even real in the end.

 

[AlaCyclone]

That UCLA team had some dudes on it. Jason Kapono, Matt Barnes

Sean Farnham / sarcasm

 

[Cloned4Life]

Hell sometimes I watch our team and think we'll lose. Like I watched our two games this week and I wasn't super impressed on Thursday. But we won by almost 20 and had an amazing start to the game and an amazing 2nd half. And yesterday I thought our bad offense was back and yet we had the largest margin of victory of the 3 two seeds.

We are a weird team who is much better than we look. You look at this Iowa State team and you think 'that's a nice team'. You don't necessarily think 'that's the #4 team in the country'. But that's exactly what they are. Illinois can think what they want, but they might end up surprised.

Well said, agree!

 

[alarson]

I don’t understand why people post this? You mean fans of our opponent thinks they are going to win? Shocking. I’m furious

I mean, win is one thing, but there have definitely been times that other fanbases haven't given much respect either, and end up surprised.

That being said, fans are different than the other team. I'm sure we'll have the full attention of anyone we play from here on out. Dismantling houston the way we did assured that.

 

[Frak]

I was surrounded by Illinois fans at the game yesterday. They were all fine, but very high on their team. At halftime, I over heard a conversation "so if Illinois doesn't win it all, who will"? The consensus was Purdue.

They were also surprised that Michigan State lost.

Typical Big 10 idiots.

 

[alarson]

We are a weird team who is much better than we look. You look at this Iowa State team and you think 'that's a nice team'. You don't necessarily think 'that's the #4 team in the country'. But that's exactly what they are. Illinois can think what they want, but they might end up surprised.

And honestly this applies even during the game.

The way our defense wears teams down, we often are the worse team early on before the defense has had its effect. But then in so many games we reach a point where our D just breaks them, usually sometime in the second half.

 

[MJ271]

I thought I saw someone say that one of Illinois's top "Similar Profile" comparisons on Barttorvik was 2016 Iowa State. Maybe it was before the Duquesne game, or maybe that poster was looking at something different than what I looked at. Regardless, check out their most similar efficiency and play style profiles and note with program shows up the most.
(LINK)



For some comparison, here are Iowa State's top comps:

 

[cowgirl836]

I think it comes down to the fact that Lipsey and Gilbert are going to score one way or another, but we need that 3rd scorer to step up, when we get it, we are very difficult to beat. But when it does not happen, we struggle. I figure we are going to get the same number of points from the post position, but Milan is the key to us playing well unless someone just goes off.

I want to put in a request for a lot of those dunky do things where Gilbert or someone lets the ball hang in the air short of the basket and 2nd guy comes in and just dunks it. That's my new favorite thing, even more than a 3pt.

 

[Cyched]

And honestly this applies even during the game.

The way our defense wears teams down, we often are the worse team early on before the defense has had its effect. But then in so many games we reach a point where our D just breaks them, usually sometime in the second half.

As fun as yesterday's game was, it was kind off an odd experience watching.

Never felt like we played our A game, but once we got our footing midway through the first, it was like a slow moving train where we came back and slowly built a lead.

Took me a minute late in the second, where I look up and there's like 1:30 left and we're up double digits, and I'm like "damn, we are gonna win this game"

Having a team that can still impose their will when they're not at their best puts them a cut above other teams, and other great ISU teams.

 

[HFCS]

I’d love this to play out like our 2000 UCLA game when everyone outside of ISU thought it’d be an easy win for UCLA.

 

[HFCS]

That is what you call Big10 brainwashing

Big 12 and big east brass need to start referring to themselves as “power two” basketball.

 

[singsing]

My whole family besides me went to Illinois I grew up a fan.

Sorry you got brainwashed at an early age and didn't know better. Hope your experience at ISU woke you up..

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

That UCLA team had some dudes on it. Jason Kapono, Matt Barnes

Kapono played in the McDonalds AA game in Hilton.

 

[CloniesForLife]

Can't let Illinois get into a rhythm right away and need to play the game at our pace. I like that they blew out Duquesne so hopefully they're riding high and feel like they can just outscore us

 

[Cyforce]

I don’t understand why people post this? You mean fans of our opponent thinks they are going to win? Shocking. I’m furious

It's pointless but I really don't understand why you'd think someone wouldn't.

 

[Malone]

I wonder if anyone has pressed Illinois consistently? Given that they don't have a natural point guard, it seems like an obvious approach - and it slows them down.

I would expect us to intentionally slow the game down at every chance - including at least a token press and deliberately running the shot clock down. Illinois gets a lot of their offense from fast breaks and attacking early - I think we are perfectly equipped to stop that cold. Note that their fast breaks do NOT come from turnovers, as they are horrible at forcing turnovers.

Fun number - we have forced 624 turnovers on the season. Illinois has forced 313.

Per Barttorvik Illinois is 360th in the country in forcing turnovers. To counter that they're very good at offensive rebounding - top 20. So they get some extra possessions in their own way, but it'd be surprising if our guys ended up with double digit turnovers.

They were able to dictate tempo against Duquesne which was surprising after the way Duquesne controlled the BYU game tempo. A lot of conflicting information in this one makes it maybe the most fascinating matchup of the whole tournament.

 

[Jayshellberg]

I have to admit, Illinois really, really scares me. In watching their game live yesterday, their players looked really long and athletic. Shannon is a beast and containing him will be difficult. He is a first round NBA pick and possibly a lottery player. Shannon was also routinely defending Duquesne’s guards at the top of the key. His length and athleticism made it very difficult for Duquesne’s guards to penetrate and pass the ball.

The Illinois fan who I sat next to stated that the team is playing as good as it has all year long. He stated that their Achilles heal is defense. They want to play up tempo and simply outscore you. However, the fan stated that the team has stepped up its defensive intensity since the start of the Big10 tournament. This was very apparent last night.

Hope TJ can get the team up and create lots of turnovers. Points off turnovers is the key for winning the game. Go Cyclones!