The hawks got out of control. Fran needed a couple of timeouts earlier

[uihawk82]

The hawks were playing so good for the first 18 minutes. Actually a few minutes of a bad start on offense but wow a 15 point lead with 2-3 minutes to go in the first half. And I thought without Patrick's points and height Illinois would probably win easily.

But then can any of you tell me what the hell happened. It seemed we got out of the good passing offense and went crazy dribbling the ball. The 2nd half start was bad, they righted the ship but the last 10 minutes of the 2nd half was way too much dribbling, turnovers, crazy stuff.

And I couldnt believe Fran didnt take at least one or two timeouts with 8 to 6 to 4 minutes left.

And of course the free throw shooting. Time to do Lute Olson's practice routine which I watched a few times at the old fieldhouse. The last part of practice when the players were most tired they did the free throw shoot around and when you made 3 or so straight you got to go to the showers. And the same guys were always the last ones lingering and shooting. One was Steve Waite and all that extra practice paid off great for him and the Hawks later in the NCAAs.

 

[Northside Hawk]

The hawks were playing so good for the first 18 minutes. Actually a few minutes of a bad start on offense but wow a 15 point lead with 2-3 minutes to go in the first half. And I thought without Patrick's points and height Illinois would probably win easily.

But then can any of you tell me what the hell happened. It seemed we got out of the good passing offense and went crazy dribbling the ball. The 2nd half start was bad, they righted the ship but the last 10 minutes of the 2nd half was way too much dribbling, turnovers, crazy stuff.

And I couldnt believe Fran didnt take at least one or two timeouts with 8 to 6 to 4 minutes left.

And of course the free throw shooting. Time to do Lute Olson's practice routine which I watched a few times at the old fieldhouse. The last part of practice when the players were most tired they did the free throw shoot around and when you made 3 or so straight you got to go to the showers. And the same guys were always the last ones lingering and shooting. One was Steve Waite and all that extra practice paid off great for him and the Hawks later in the NCAAs.

What we did during the middle of the first half was a thing of beauty, but not sustainable. For the rest if the first half and most of the second Illinois rotated endless bodies and managed to both clog passing lanes and keep pressure on the ball.

Unacceptable free throw shooting was obviously huge, but it's won other games this year. Definitely a tough loss. Illinois knows they stole one.

 

[kicker22]

What we did during the middle of the first half was a thing of beauty, but not sustainable. For the rest if the first half and most of the second Illinois rotated endless bodies and managed to both clog passing lanes and keep pressure on the ball.

Unacceptable free throw shooting was obviously huge, but it's won other games this year. Definitely a tough loss. Illinois knows they stole one.

I don't know that Illinois stole it as much as we gave it away. Shoot even 60% from the stripe we come away with that one.

 

[Seth53]

With all that happened yesterday, truly, with what we lost last year, who thought we'd be 3 pts away from a double bye?

Not me.

 

[thedukeofearl]

The hawks were playing so good for the first 18 minutes. Actually a few minutes of a bad start on offense but wow a 15 point lead with 2-3 minutes to go in the first half. And I thought without Patrick's points and height Illinois would probably win easily.

But then can any of you tell me what the hell happened. It seemed we got out of the good passing offense and went crazy dribbling the ball. The 2nd half start was bad, they righted the ship but the last 10 minutes of the 2nd half was way too much dribbling, turnovers, crazy stuff.

And I couldnt believe Fran didnt take at least one or two timeouts with 8 to 6 to 4 minutes left.

And of course the free throw shooting. Time to do Lute Olson's practice routine which I watched a few times at the old fieldhouse. The last part of practice when the players were most tired they did the free throw shoot around and when you made 3 or so straight you got to go to the showers. And the same guys were always the last ones lingering and shooting. One was Steve Waite and all that extra practice paid off great for him and the Hawks later in the NCAAs.

Better management of the timeouts might have changed the outcome of the game

A timeout during their 9 point run to end the first half could have stopped the momentum that the Illini had

And I couldnt believe Fran didnt take at least one or two timeouts with 8 to 6 to 4 minutes left.

 

[uihawk82]

With all that happened yesterday, truly, with what we lost last year, who thought we'd be 3 pts away from a double bye?

Not me.

And even more surprising to me about the hawks leading most of yesterday's game and really should have winning it was they were without PatrickM, a starter, a tall good rebounder we needed against Cockburn and their big guys, and maybe Patrick can get off a few more uncontested shots.