Its that simple. Illinois is not a good team and they have even more injuries than Rutgers. I watched them last night against Wisconsin and they play a wretched brand of offense. I don't think they got any production at all from their point guard spot and don't seem to have the quickness and athleticism that many of RU's Big 10 opponents have had. Oh and they have injuries...more than RU. Last night one of their forwards Finke went down which will leave them with only one true big man. He joins forward Thorne Jr who has been out, forward Black who is out, and guard Abrams who was out since before the season started. Also their best player Kendrick Nunn battled an injury that kept him out 8 weeks and he also missed some minutes last night after suffering a hip injury but returned to play.
At 10-12 and just 2-7 in league play, head coach John Groce is going to be on the hot seat at the end of the year. Somehow they have a win over Purdue 84-70 early in the Big 10 slate at home but have fallen as of late. Minnesota is their only other win. Still they have been much more competitive in losses than Rutgers as they have two down to the wire losses to Ohio State and only two blowout losses to Indiana and Michigan State. One has to figure Illinois is circling Rutgers as the game they should win as well.
Lets note that Illinois is a terrible rebounding team that is rated 331 in the country and with only one legit big guy it looks like an even matchup across the board. Only one guy over 6ft7. No reason, no excuse for Rutgers to not win this game. Time to start showing progress in the win column and give evidence that this team is working on something. 24 straight league losses and no wins against top 250 rpi is pathetic. One win does not mean we need to throw a party and everything is oka but one win means there is at least evidence to point to. We can start there and see where it goes the last 8 games which have some easier competition.
At 10-12 and just 2-7 in league play, head coach John Groce is going to be on the hot seat at the end of the year. Somehow they have a win over Purdue 84-70 early in the Big 10 slate at home but have fallen as of late. Minnesota is their only other win. Still they have been much more competitive in losses than Rutgers as they have two down to the wire losses to Ohio State and only two blowout losses to Indiana and Michigan State. One has to figure Illinois is circling Rutgers as the game they should win as well.
Lets note that Illinois is a terrible rebounding team that is rated 331 in the country and with only one legit big guy it looks like an even matchup across the board. Only one guy over 6ft7. No reason, no excuse for Rutgers to not win this game. Time to start showing progress in the win column and give evidence that this team is working on something. 24 straight league losses and no wins against top 250 rpi is pathetic. One win does not mean we need to throw a party and everything is oka but one win means there is at least evidence to point to. We can start there and see where it goes the last 8 games which have some easier competition.
