Rapid Reaction - Illinois

[RUJMM78]

Good post. Cliff IMO has regressed. He doesn’t understand how to use the backboard to hit angles left and right.He tries to shoot without usind the backboard and either shoots over the basket or airballs it. He lacks moves and can’t hit a basic 7 foot shot.

Fans see what is happening but the coaching staff hasn't done anything to change how Cliff shoots around the basket.His performance has regressed this season because Mulcahy and Baker aren't on the court to pass him the ball for dunks.

 

[RUDiddy777]

Yes, and if we shot 60% for the year, and 50% from 3, we would go undefeated and win the national championship . . . Except we will never do that. We haven’t shot well or rebounded well all year, and we finally played a good team and got smoked, and it wasn’t even as close as the score would indicate.

A good team that played well. Illinois didn’t play lights out. 45/40 from the floor isn’t elite. That should be the norm.

Agreed on rebounding. It’s been poor all season. Today was awful.

 

[Saint Puppy]

Yes, and if we shot 60% for the year, and 50% from 3, we would go undefeated and win the national championship . . . Except we will never do that. We haven’t shot well or rebounded well all year, and we finally played a good team and got smoked, and it wasn’t even as close as the score would indicate.

You are right we haven't shot well or rebounded well all year, but we shot 33% from the field and were getting obliterated on the boards. Add on to that Illinois got red hot from 3 in the 2nd half and here we are. We came back in the 1st half, but I will say almost all the bounces seemed to go there way and we just had no answers offensively - nobody had a good game other than Austin Williams and he was benched a lot. I definitely think this was a winnable game at The RAC. Neutral court they destroy us - just a better, more physically imposing team all around.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

You are right we haven't shot well or rebounded well all year, but we shot 33% from the field and were getting obliterated on the boards. Add on to that Illinois got red hot from 3 in the 2nd half and here we are. We came back in the 1st half, but I will say almost all the bounces seemed to go there way and we just had no answers offensively - nobody had a good game other than Austin Williams and he was benched a lot. I definitely think this was a winnable game at The RAC. Neutral court they destroy us - just a better, more physically imposing team all around.

They also threw away lots of balls trying to make ridiculous passes that had nothing to do with our defense. And I hate to break this to you, but this team is pretty much going to shoot around 33% from the field against anyone good.

 

[bac2therac]

They also threw away lots of balls trying to make ridiculous passes that had nothing to do with our defense. And I hate to break this to you, but this team is pretty much going to shoot around 33% from the field against anyone good.

Illinois is very very good yet they showed chinks that if RU had any semblence of offense, RU could have snuck out a win. They play a bit reckless but they play confidently. They responded pretty good in the 2nd half and RU just folded like a wet chalupa

 

[RUskoolie]

Fans see what is happening but the coaching staff hasn't done anything to change how Cliff shoots around the basket.His performance has regressed this season because Mulcahy and Baker aren't on the court to pass him the ball for dunks.

Noah not even being able to lob him a proper alley oop late in the game summed up the night. Our guards struggle to pass him the ball which is a big red flag.

 

[SirPerceval]

My rapid reaction is this team stinks. Average defensively (mainly helped by a good press but actually fairly suspect in the half court) and atrocious on offense - the problems with the offense have all been said already in this thread so I'm not going to bother repeating it all. My guess is that Pike will get the defense tuned up so that maybe we have a puncher's chance against a few of the top tier B1G teams but I do not see much hope for any type of consistent offense.

 

[SwaggyFeline]

We missed so many shots around the rim while Illinois converted. Maybe it's just a bad day or maybe our the talent just isn't there.

 

[Saint Puppy]

We missed so many shots around the rim while Illinois converted. Maybe it's just a bad day or maybe our the talent just isn't there.

As I've said earlier I think we just did not get a lot of bounces today - we were just having a bad day. But also you can't afford to have a bad day against a team like Illinois - they will make you pay!

 

[RUDiddy777]

We missed so many shots around the rim while Illinois converted. Maybe it's just a bad day or maybe our the talent just isn't there.

Think it’s a little bit of both. Don’t think we’re a talented offensive team, but today was pretty bad. Can’t get outrebounded that today. Yikes.