Illinois Defensive Matchups

[Huskyforlife]

Who do we think guards who on Illinois? Their size presents a unique challenge for us.

 

[ec33]

Can't we just roll this discussion over from the LeDee is an unstoppable force thread?

 

[superjohn]

Who do we think guards who on Illinois? Their size presents a unique challenge for us.

Castle on Shannon. They're screwed.

 

[caw]

Yeah they are an interesting team.

6'6 Rodgers - inside rebounder/defender - Newton?
6'8 Guerrier - Finally putting together a good shooting year at his third college, bad defender from what I have seen - Karaban
6'10 Hawkins - do it all player who is either outstanding or completely moronic - Clingan
6'6 Domask - Scorer but not really a great shooter, though he is streaky as hell. poor defender - Cam
6'6 Shannon - Best scorer in the NCAAT probably. Plays passing lanes and gambles on defense. - Castle

6'9 Danja - thick body, good rebounder, nice touch near the rim.
6'7 Goode - Shooter

First team in awhile that has the same height on the perimeter as UConn.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Gonna need some tough Castle drives to get Shannon in foul trouble, pump fakes, etc. I’m sure Illinois is thinking the same thing to get Castle in foul trouble. Interesting dynamic.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Who do we think guards who on Illinois? Their size presents a unique challenge for us.

They have to defend us and theyre not very good. They werent very good against ISU who imho is the worst offensive team ive seen in the tournament. I lost track at how many open shots they missed and how many bonehead plays that made no sense they made yet they still scored 69 points and only lost by 3. Illinois is going to see on Saturday what its like to really play a top seed and not some fraudulant wannabe on paper #2 seed. Wow ISU was terrible and Illinois did not impress. At all.

 

[mauconnfan]

The Illini present some interesting match ups that can create some issues for us. But we do the same to them as pointed out above. We need to make shots and DC and Alex both need to play better period, then we’ll be ok.

 

[Scot-e]

They have to defend us and theyre not very good. They werent very good against ISU who imho is the worst offensive team ive seen in the tournament. I lost track at how many open shots they missed and how many bonehead plays that made no sense they made yet they still scored 69 points and only lost by 3. Illinois is going to see on Saturday what its like to really play a top seed and not some fraudulant wannabe on paper #2 seed. Wow ISU was terrible and Illinois did not impress. At all.

Doomed!

 

[Rico444]

My only concern (as usual) is foul trouble. If Clingan gets two quick ones we could struggle a bit to guard them. That being said I think we do a good job limiting Shannon with Castle and Diarra. Offensively we should have no trouble putting up points.

 

[ScottCT]

They have to defend us and theyre not very good. They werent very good against ISU who imho is the worst offensive team ive seen in the tournament. I lost track at how many open shots they missed and how many bonehead plays that made no sense they made yet they still scored 69 points and only lost by 3. Illinois is going to see on Saturday what its like to really play a top seed and not some fraudulant wannabe on paper #2 seed. Wow ISU was terrible and Illinois did not impress. At all.

Whoa whoa whoa. The worst offense you've seen in the tournament? Did you watch Virginia?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Crazy enough I expect one of the assistants has already been prepping this scenario for weeks.

 

[Vuce]

Marquette beat them earlier this year - call Shaka and see what he says. Illinois has a very good offense - right up there with ours (UConn 1 vs Illinois 2 on KenPom). Their defense is rated 84th while UConn is 6th. They have to guard us too and that's where the advantage is

 

[willie99]

They have to defend us and theyre not very good. They werent very good against ISU who imho is the worst offensive team ive seen in the tournament. I lost track at how many open shots they missed and how many bonehead plays that made no sense they made yet they still scored 69 points and only lost by 3. Illinois is going to see on Saturday what its like to really play a top seed and not some fraudulant wannabe on paper #2 seed. Wow ISU was terrible and Illinois did not impress. At all.

So you're saying we have to score more, I concur

But a great scoring team always has a chance, they have to rain 3s

I'd rather be solid on both sides of the ball. Certainly going to be 1000% different than SD St

 

[AdamaNation]

Yeah they are an interesting team.

6'6 Rodgers - inside rebounder/defender - Newton?
6'8 Guerrier - Finally putting together a good shooting year at his third college, bad defender from what I have seen - Karaban
6'10 Hawkins - do it all player who is either outstanding or completely moronic - Clingan
6'6 Domask - Scorer but not really a great shooter, though he is streaky as hell. poor defender - Cam
6'6 Shannon - Best scorer in the NCAAT probably. Plays passing lanes and gambles on defense. - Castle

6'9 Danja - thick body, good rebounder, nice touch near the rim.
6'7 Goode - Shooter

First team in awhile that has the same height on the perimeter as UConn.

Yet 91st ranked Defense.

 

[jibsey]

Their offense may be good points wise but their player movement isn’t ours.

 

[Marat]

ISU seemed to leave the Illinois shooters open on the perimeter a bit too much last night. We'll need to force them off the 3 pt line into tough 2 pt shots. Need Clingan to stay out of foul trouble to defend also.

 

[my2cents]

Maybe it was the late time, but I thought both teams looked like stumblers and bumblers. Illinois was terrible from the foul line. In a close game that will kill them.
Shannon will score some but make it inefficient.

 

[caw]

Yet 91st ranked Defense.

Was commenting more on how UConn sets to defend them.


Illinois' defense is horrid. Hawkins gets his head turned way too quickly. They have no rim protection, get lost on simple action often and aren't really physical defensively. Shannon does shoot passing lanes well though.

 

[Marat]

Shannon does shoot passing lanes well though.

Newton needs to be careful on that. Sometimes he throws a lazy pass and knows it.

 

[jibsey]

ISU could flat out steal the ball, but did leave them open for 3's. My concern is Shannon barreling down the lane and getting fouls on Castle and Clingan. He's much quicker than Alex but Castle is a big factor. Can Diarra guard him at all?
Shannon hangs at the baseline 3 point line until the
clock started to go down without much movement.

 

[Dove]

This is the team that remotely made me nervous if UConn is off a little. Shannon can take over a game. But, I just can't see our guys giving him much rope.

 

[Marat]

This is the team that remotely made me nervous if UConn is off a little. Shannon can take over a game. But, I just can't see our guys giving him much rope.

Let's get him in foul trouble like yesterday. Newton is good at taking charges on defense, .....

 

[J187Money]

Their metrics are very similar to Bama. Lots of O, not much D. Interesting matchup - but again - play our game our way and it should play out in our favor.

At this stage I think this is much more about how Hurley (and staff) have our team prepared and making sure our heads are in the game than who the opponent is. And I've seen no reason to believe that the preparation and focus will be anything short of on point.

We now have the 3rd highest KenPom rating in history with 3 more games left to play. That's how historically good we are.

 

[upstater]

ISU seemed to get to the hoop at will

 

[husky429]

They have about 1/3rd of the defensive IQ necessary to guard us. That's the real issue.

Castle on Shannon.

I'm waiting for the @Hey Adrien! report to decide the rest.