Illini Zip

The money was obviously a huge factor, but maybe Nate will come back around the Akron program and echo Ali’s message that the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere. And not every program or locker room has a great culture like Akron does. Cherish what you have.

@Let'sGoZips94 wins the longest post of the year award. Very impressive!!

Are they that clever?

I just watched some of the Oklahoma State at Utah game and I am so not missing Okonkwo at all. He’s earning his money running up and down the court. He’s active on defense and sets screens on offense, but other than being a big body who can lean on an opponent he’s a non-factor. He’s not a consideration on offense (4 pts in 28 minutes) and not overly effective on defense. He had 6 rebounds which is something I guess. I know the Big 12 is a better conference, but Ok. State is not exactly Arizona.

Miami ended up winning big. Just tuned into the Troy game. They are losing by 12 at home to App State. 10:36 left. Final: App State 66, Troy 44 (season ave 86) 🤔

I agree that Young will continue to improve, but as a Sophomore he wasn’t ready to carry the load of starting point guard. That’s my only point. Defensively he’s way ahead of Tavari.

Akron is ranked 50 in the NET. Is that their season high?

Tavari was funny in the post-game interview messing around with Hardman and Lyles. Not a side you see too much from Tavari. Worth a watch. At the time we debated what the loss of Tavari to the portal would have meant to this year’s team. The fact that Young has hit a wall with his offensive growth answers that clearly for me. Tavari has been exceptional all around. One of my biggest issues with Tavari in the past besides not holding his own defensively was he was always a shoot first point guard. This year he is actually looking to distribute and because of that he is far more dynamic and effective. Good on him. 👍

I thought when Barre could get set on defense against Gillespie he was quite effective slowing him down. Dropping the shoulder and bulldozing might work against Lyles, but not Barre. Barre will definitely help keep Lyles out of foul trouble. Not only is it an additional body to throw at teams, but Barre helps where Lyles struggles and that’s much bigger players. At the same time their game is different enough that we should see them on the court together at times.

What do you mean by plucked?

I don’t know if Lyles was standing on the circle or what, but that poor guy couldn’t get a charging call to save his life.

I think Kent came into the JAR looking to play bully ball and in the opening tip wearing a protective mask Halligan says hold my beer and dives on the ball creating a scrum. Game on!!

Barre is not in sync offensively with his teammates yet, but his large presence was a welcome addition tonight.

Not the highest scoring game, but it’s nice to play well on TV.

You would never know this is his first game back.

I like seeing Chabi out there again.

That dunk by Eric had to juice our entire team.

That’s an interesting tidbit.

Sharron has struggled offensively at times. He doesn’t look quite ready to run this team next year, but growth isn’t always linear. Not worried about him yet. Defensively he’s always locked in.

I’m still hoping Barre can return and stay healthy so we can maximize our potential heading down the stretch.

I know we controlled the whole game, but the crowd was not as rowdy as usual. More to your point that Boal’s seat might be getting warm.

I think this might be our most complete game yet. The fact that we dominated a full 40 minutes in a true road game in Athens is awesome to watch.

Amani Lyles effort!!

I lost count of the Grocisms in that interview.

We might be thinking in a similar manner. As much as Nate had really improved and earned MAC Player of the Year he still had a few bad tendencies. Taking a play off here and there. And he was always good for one head-scratching pass or a missed dunk per game. I’m not being critical, just saying that was the Nate we experienced and he had Groce staring him down from the bench. I can’t imagine a new coach, any new coach could possibly know exactly which buttons to push to get the best out of Nate in one season. Or it could be just a bad situation all together.