Illini Zip

Passionate is a nice way to explain us.

All of my kidding aside, I think this would be the way to go if Groce ever left Akron. But everything in my gut says he stays put.

I think if TJ keeps improving at this rate he will be back in the starting rotation in no time. Both teams had spells where they struggled shooting and Scott had a brutal 3 minute stretch. On top of that we had a bunch of ill-advised passes that easily could have been turnovers. That said, I didn't see anything from Central Michigan that explains how they went 8-2 to start the conference. I have to admit, this was my only time watching them. But I could see them dropping down the standings drastically by the time we reach the MAC Tourney.

Here's a bonus concern, Amani Lyles fouls too much. But on a positive note, he moves well with or without the ball and has a nice shot.

Right now I am concerned with the fact we have too much trouble inbounding the ball. On a positive note, I am feeling much better about my last concern which was that we couldn't break a press.

That's how I felt at times too, but we only had 5 turnovers. I guess it was just the poor shooting night. Tribble sure had a game.

Including Toledo. How?!

It sounded that way to me. I bet he’s back for the JMU game.

Akron is Back in Black.

He is out tonight. He hurt his knee in the Toledo game according to Groce in pre-game interview.

After the scare Akron gave Ohio State a couple of years back it might be some time before they play again. I'm convinced the Big Ten protects their lower ranks. Right now there are 5 Big Ten teams that want nothing to do with Akron per the NET rankings. And if you are right about Ohio State that would be 6 maybe 7 teams. There were more than a few years back in the early 2000's that I thought Illinois football would get their butt kicked by Northern Illinois. And because of that they never played. They might play now.

If I'm reading it right, the JMU game is shaping up to be a Quad 1 game for us and Quad 3 game them.

I think the combination of Freeman, LCJ and Xeyrius Williams would be an awesome asset to Groce and Company on the recruiting trail. I could see adding Ali and Castaneda too, but the first three are just so well spoken.

I watched the Tennessee vs. Kentucky game last night. The two teams almost came to blows at one point because Kentucky pretty much got man-handled in their own house. But what got me upset came later, when a Tennessee player was caught on camera blowing kisses to the Kentucky bench. I stood straight up and was screaming Technical, Technical, Technical, anybody going to call the Technical?! I might have been releasing some inner-trauma. Ha!!

😂

Central Michigan is legit!!

The worst part of re-watching the game was listening to the homers talk about M&M’s. It really was 2 games in one. The last 12 minutes might have taken longer to play than the first 28 minutes with all of the stopage. I agree now with others that our half-court defense was very effective. Our problem was in transition. Tavari, who has made great strides was the biggest liability. Somebody needs to stop or at least slow down the Toledo ball handler. Once they get a head of steam Freeman is vulnerable to the floppers. That said, Freeman still got a double-double while spending much of the game on the bench and Dawson played to the standard he set 2 years ago. But this was ultimately Ali’s game. He just can’t give the refs an opportunity to kill our momentum with a technical. That goes for Tavari and Dawson as well. Oh, and breaking the press was a disaster. Painful to re-watch. Bring on CMU. Go Zips!!

MVP!!! MVP!!! MVP!!!

💯 I do remember the 1-3-1 at times, but I think Freeman was already in foul trouble at that point. To your point, our guards need to do a better job of staying with the opposing player driving to the hoop. They need to be a buffer between them and Freeman (or any of our shot blockers). We have depth at guard. We can afford fouls to rack up on our guards if necessary. Let Freeman, Ali, Hunter, whomever jump and swat from a step behind the action.

I agree, getting back on defense in time was a problem also.

I’m going to rewatch this game without my emotions involved. Toledo had success driving into the lane like a heat seeking missile, drawing contact and throwing the ball up while flopping. It worked, the refs gave them that all game. Except for one time when Rique stepped out of the way and the Toledo player crashed to the ground. One of my favorite moments. Ha!! Anyway, we were caught off guard more than a few times. They are fast. So I’m thinking the Zips should go with a box and one zone since they only have one good perimeter shooter. I have a feeling we will see them a couple more times this season.

Time to work on breaking a press.

Stressful ending, but we beat that damn Toledo team!!

Toledo is sure doing their share of flopping.

Close, he came in at 12:38.