Game 11- Murray State

[1981 grad]

8 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

I will try…Halligan brings defensive understanding and effort. We have plenty of offense right now. We need to figure out how to stop teams. Or maybe Groce is sending the team a message???

When Halligan came in, he stood out defensively and the Zips went on an 8-0 run.  And nobody else stood out defensively today.  He deserved the time.  

[Captain Kangaroo]

3 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I’m getting a good feeling about this game!

Didn’t last long…

[Let'sGoZips94]

I understand defense is going to be a point of conversation, but it's really hard to get mad when our only 2 mid major losses have statistically ridiculous box scores. Yale and Murray State could run simulated games in practice with zero defenders, take the same shots they did vs us, and not shoot nearly as well as they ended up shooting vs us. 56% from 3 on 32 attempts is unbelievably absurd. That's 54 pts from 3P alone. If Murray State shoots an above-average 40%, that's 13 3P which is 15 less points; Murray State won by 15, and they're a 36.1% 3P shooting team on the season. Murray State committed 18 turnovers; I know some of those are probably self-inflicted, but Akron was doing something right on defense as well. Yet again, a team needed to have a historic night to beat Akron and they did. Akron wasn't nearly as efficient offensively as they were vs. Yale, hence the 15 pt deficit, but they still put up 100 pts. If we start seeing MAC teams shoot ~50%+ from 3P vs us, then I'll be concerned. Until then, hats off to Murray State for an incredible shooting performance. 

 

Regroup and beat the feathers off EMU. 

[Captain Kangaroo]

9 hours ago, ewbrooman1 said:

The bad news is the men's game isn't on ESPN+. The good news is that the women's game at #6 Michigan isn't either.

The women had a better showing.

[kreed5120]

Ignoring the problems isn't going to make them magically go away. Even in our wins we've consistently seen breakdowns defensively with many wide open looks. The competition just wasn't good enough to capitalize off of them. Murray State and Yale were good enough to carve us up. As will any 4 or 5 seed we encounter if the tournament if we make it that far.

 

Giving up offensive rebounds because you're not boxing out and leaving 3-pt shooters wide open because you're slow in rotation isn't a winning formula against quality teams. We should constantly be evaluating ourselves and looking for ways to improve. Other teams will be doing the same.

 

 

[clarkwgriswold]

To summarize:

 

Bad defense + good team shooting lights out = 115 points

 

On to EMU.

[ZippyRulz]

On 12/12/2025 at 8:23 PM, Zips1991 said:

174.5

 

Congrats to the degenerates that took the over.