Illinois Post Game Thread

[Mister P]

Great play by the bench. Especially Smith and Reibe again. Games like this is where you need to have depth.

 

[metsfan2323]

We have a two headed monster at center again!

 

[Waquoit]

As much as I've been a fan of Smith since that BCU game, I did not have him on my Shoots Dagger bingo card.

 

[upstater]

The blowout was in full force when...

Karaban picked up the most ticky tack call to break the momentum.

Karaban and Solo came out of the game. And a couple minutes later the Illini comeback started.

Lots of fouls for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. Incredible!

 

[thekollieman]

The refs thinking was right. There were still 2 seconds on the play clock when the timer reset it to 20.

Malachi shot the ball 18 seconds into the shot clock.

So, it was close, but the logic was right.

They clarified that earlier in the possession they didn’t reset they clock when they should have, which apparently added up to making it not close when Malachi shot it.

Edit: that’s what the announcers said, but it’s not what happened. That situation calls for official postgame follow-up. It worked in our favor, but it was not good officiating (in my opinion).

 

[Gutter King]

Are there any Malachi non-believers left?

Great game we are going to really start blowing these games open when we start to finish more. Including the Demary missing the dump off to Eric, we probably left 10 points on the table there.

Braylon in for Jstew is basically a sure thing. Ross was effective. The Malachi to Karaban connection was beautiful. There is a pretty offensive unit within this group, they just have to commit to it more.

 

[RedStickHusky]

• Watching Reibe figure things out is a lot of fun
• hate to see our "shooters" bricking uncontested looks
• Smith probably man of the match
• Mullins is gonna be a load; glad he wasn't reinjured...

 

[Aar684]

A win with nothing from Demary or Reed. Depth showed up.

 

[jostar1]

 

[NHUConnfan]

This team has all of the pieces to win the championship.

 

[aceboon]

Smith/Reibe/AK were the players of the game, AK had a couple of poor finishing attempts in the 2nd half but overall just a very good performance on both sides. There were posters early in the season worried about the backup C position but Reibe has hopefully put that to rest, he looks better each game.

On another note, one of these days I need one of these reporters to ask what is Hurley's coaching philosophy when UConn gets a big lead, just keep playing basketball and leave the St Benedicts Prep nonsense in Jersey.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

I am so shocked we got that miracle Smith shot back. What was the rationale?

They looked at the full possession and determined that the initial reset of the clock at the start of the possession was wrong so the hail mary ended up being in time

 

[REB1094]

Game ball goes to Malachi Smith. What an absolute dog, having two starting caliber PGs is REALLY important for us this year. Anyone ever seen a 28 foot circus shot 4 point play before?

Solo was red hot, and then ice cold. But for any blowout-turned-a-little-interesting, any buffer is huge. He was lighting it up early

Outside of Malachi, Reibe and Ross had REALLY good games in the second half. We needed them as Reed clearly isn’t 100% and Stewart was fading

Braylon had minimal impact but I love the kid already. Hustles, plays hard, and that shot will start falling soon. Welcome back

Shoutout Kylan Boswell. Nobody could do anything against him. He carved us up all day

Unfortunately for Illinois, they only had 1 guy and they needed a lot more. This UConn team is LEGIT. Let’s go Huskies!

 

[Excalibur]

Let’s be 100% clear. The shot clock call was 100% correct. Karaban rebounded the ball as the clock went from 2:30 to 2:29. On the whistle, there was 2:10 left. He got it off in time.

 

[aceboon]

Right? What does the rulebook say for when the clock people mess up so badly…

Edit: announcers explained the clock people messed up PRIOR to the mess up we saw on replay a million times. Hence, the basket counts. What a mess. Go dogs.

it's strange that they explained it yet the studio crew postgame is saying they still botched the call.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

I told all you worry wort weenies in the Scouting Report thread we had this taken care of. Statement win

 

[BGesus4]

scary thing is,
Reed is obviously not fully back yet
Mullins will be huge once he settles in
Demary still has a ton more he can impact games once he’s fully acclimated

This team has a ton of room left to improve while already clearly being one of the best teams in the country

 

[Excalibur]

I am so shocked we got that miracle Smith shot back. What was the rationale?

The shot clock would not have run out even if it wasn’t reset. It was simple math counting back from the original offensive board.

 

[Nameless]

People were stressing the Illinois comeback a bit too much in the game chat. Whistle became a bit one sided and we went ice cold. I agree we should have put Smith back in sooner, but I understand why coach had Solo and Silas in the game.

There was SO much to like from our performance today. Reibe continues to impress, looks more and more comfortable every game. Malachi was amazing today, we have an above average starting caliber guard as our backup. Reed was still clearly banged up, Mullins clearly a bit rusty, and we still built another 20+ point lead against a top 15 team in the country.

I don't think a lot of people understand how good this team will be once our starting 5 with Mullins and Reed really start to play some minutes together. We are the best damn team in the country.

 

[HooperScooper]

Great win! Some observations.

First the bad:

These 2nd half offensive lulls are going to come back to bite them at some point.

They still can’t stay in front of quick guards. Boswell killed them but luckily nobody else did. I figured Demary would be that player to guard a guy like Bosswell but the foul trouble killed him.

When Ball hit that first three I was thinking O.K. this is the game he breaks out from three. Nope. 1-8 the rest of the game. Good thing he has that midrange and driving to the basket game going.

The good:

The depth was huge. Hurley said it this week, that's the team's great strength.

Great to see them win a game with basically nothing from Reed.

The interior defense was fantastic. So much for all that Illini height.

Perfect game from Karaban. Doesn’t have to carry them but 12 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and a steal. And excellent defense. Just perfect.

The offense ran much better with Smith running point rather than Demary. Smith was huge today.

 

[KingAG]

People were stressing the Illinois comeback a bit too much in the game chat. Whistle became a bit one sided and we went ice cold. I agree we should have put Smith back in sooner, but I understand why coach had Solo and Silas in the game.

There was SO much to like from our performance today. Reibe continues to impress, looks more and more comfortable every game. Malachi was amazing today, we have an above average starting caliber guard as our backup. Reed was still clearly banged up, Mullins clearly a bit rusty, and we still built another 20+ point lead against a top 15 team in the country.

I don't think a lot of people understand how good this team will be once our starting 5 with Mullins and Reed really start to play some minutes together. We are the best damn team in the country.

Nah we have to figure that snit out. Can’t keep giving up leads.

 

[Gutter King]

Eric, with his back to the basket, spun to his right along the baseline and laid in with his left hand. He's going to be quite the player for us.

 

[gsmooth]

It wasn't perfect, but this is a great win for the resume most importantly for UConn of course, but for the Big East.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

The Fox postgame was odd...all of them basically trashing the good guys saying how ugly a win it was, and then declaring it was completely out of character for Illini to play how they did. If I didn't catch the end of the game and saw it, I'd think they won

 

[storrsroars]

Are there any Malachi non-believers left?

IMO, he played a smart and in control game. In previous games he made a number of poor decisions, whether it was a bad pass, dribbling too much, driving into a certain disaster, or just not seeing everything a great PG should see.

Didn't see any of that today. He really played a great game, so all credit to him.