Illinois Vs. Missouri Southern.

And so it begins... Another chapter of Illinois basketball is about to be written, and it comes at a time when Illini fans need it most. With the football team not living up to expectations, Illini nation is looking to Bruce Weber to cure their victory ills. Missouri Southern head coach Robert Corn comes into the Assembly Hall tonight with 21 years of experience as the leader of the Lions. In 1999, Corn won the Division II Bulletin National Coach of the Year award.



It appears that coach Weber is content with letting his bench guys finish the game for the most part. I still haven't seen Stan Simpson

Apparently I deleted most of the second half blog... So we'll pick it up with 9:58 left in the game.

At halftime, the Illini look pretty good, but the amount of turnovers needs to go down.

This is a great showing around the 1:30 mark remaining in the first half. Illinois forced turnovers, and the result was 5 quick points.

Illinois has 13 turnovers already in the game, and I know it's the first one of the year, but I have to assume Weber was hoping that number would be a little closer to 8 or 10 for the half. The fact that the Illini only have 6 assists only compounds things.

What was an 18 point lead has now shrunken to 8 after Illinois turnovers allowed some quick baskets by MOSO.

You have to hand it to Head Coach Corn. He get's extremely fired up, and you can tell that it rubs off on his players. Yelling, moving up and down the sideline, running out to give high fives during a timeout...

Brandon Paul loves to take the ball to the hole just like his freshman teammate Richardson. They have both gotten free throw opportunities because MOSO can't keep up.

Illinois has started to get a little sloppy with the ball and lazy on defense. MOSO is getting a lot of looks from 3 when the ball goes under the basket and then is kicked back out.

I spoke too soon. MOSO junior Skylar Bowlin scores on his own rebound, and the drought it over.

It is now 8 minutes into the game, and MOSO has not scored a basket. 19-1 Illini...

Bill Cole had the chance for a lay up, but instead he tried to pass it off and it went out of bounds. It's hard to fault guys for wanting to share the rock, but it shows you why the freshman shooting aggressively is going to either push the big men into stepping up, or it is going to help them pass them by.

Richardson picks up his first foul as he tries a little too hard for a steal.

Brandon Paul is not afraid to pull the trigger. Even though he missed, it is nice seeing guys take shots when they are open.

DJ Richardson just showed the Orange and Blue fans two things. He is going to take it to the hole... which he did very well, and he is going to make freshman mistakes... two traveling calls.

The lack of speed for MOSO is earning the Illini a number of garbage fouls.

The Illini are trusting freshman DJ Richardson with a big role defensively. Arguably the best player for the Lions is 6'1" senior Mariun Price and Richardson has drawn the task of guarding him.

This size advantage is not the only obvious thing about this match up. The Illini are clearly the more athletic unit.

McCamey needs to shoot when he's open. To start the game he had a wide open opportunity and passed it up. The upgrade to his speed is obvious though. At the 2 minute mark he picked up a trash foul because he started to blow by his man bringing it over half court.

Missouri Southern is not a big team. Out of the starters, only McCamey would not be the tallest player for the Lions. 6'5" is as tall as they get to start the game.