Frightened Illini ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. Happy to see Tarris on the floor to start.
2. Demary was a TO machine early. And as soon as I made note of that observation, he scored on 2 consecutive possessions.
3. Ball on fire early.
4. Tarris' 1st fg attempt at just under 7 minutes left in the half. Misses. Gets to the line. 1 of 2
5. 11 point halftime lead. 47% to 38% shooting in 1st half and 5 steals to none. Getting outscored pretty badly in the paint though...8 to 16.
6. Refs got very whistle happy in the 2nd half ... not letting the players play. For a while it seemed like every possession was interrupted by a whistle.
7. Our shooting and our offensive rebounding in 2nd half sucked.
8. Smith! Gets a long rebound that never touched the rim, late in the shot clock. realizes it's this instant or never, leans in and puts up the most awkward and longest shot of his career. IT goes in off the board. AND he gets fouled. Then the officials got involved, and it felt like the longer they confabbed and watched replays, the less likely that shot would count. Pleasantly surprised that they ended up allowing it. Then after the interminable delay, Smith calmly sank the FT.
9. The Huskies letting the shot clock run out without taking a shot on their last possession could be seen as good sportsmanship. In real time, I thought was more like a big to Illinois.
10. I was pleasantly surprised by Reibe's play. Did the stuff a big is supposed to, and did it well.
11. We assisted on 19 of our 26 hoops, compared to 10 of 19 for Illinois.
12. Malachi Smith was our 2nd leading scorer and our dime leader ... off the bench!
13. Karaban was smooth and efficient. Produced whenever it was needed, and led the team in rebounds.