Illinois rolls over Presbyterian

If you came to the Assembly Hall tonight hoping for a battle, you were probably bored after about 12 minutes. It was at that point in the game that the Illini started a 47-9 run that would last for over 16 minutes. It was all game situation practice from there. But how can you complain? After putting up 94 points tonight, the Illini bring their scoring average up to 90 points per game... Best in the Big Ten.

The first half started out with the Blue Hose running the floor at a much faster pace than expected. This is a team without a lot of depth, so it makes sense that they would try and slow things down a little... but when the shots are falling, you continue to take them. Luckily for the Illini though, DJ Richardson took Brandon Paul's place as the freshman with the hot hand. Richardson hit all four shots he took in the first 20 minutes, including three treys and a four point play. It was good to see DJ putting up shots after a set back with his elbow has slowed his offensive output. After the game, Richardson said about his elbow, "It's going pretty well thanks to Al (Martindale, Head Trainer), he's been giving it treatment. It still hurts when dribbling and passing.". Paul may have cooled off from deep, going 0-4, but he did shoot 4-7 from inside the stripe. Something both of the freshman should be proud of is combining for 7 assists and only 1 turnover... Add that to McCamey's 10 assists and only 2 TO, and you have some tough ball movement to defend.

After closing the first half strong, assistant coach Jerrance Howard told the guys at halftime to really focus on the first four minutes of the second half. Presbyterian is a team who slows things down, not scores at will. By coming out strong in the second half, the Illini forced the Blue Hose to play out of their comfort zone trying to play catch up.

Rebounding was impressive tonight as well as the scoring. Freshman Tyler set his young career high with 9 boards tonight, tying Mike Davis for most in the game. Davis ended up only that one rebound short of his third consecutive double-double, something Weber blamed on himself for taking him out too early. Rebounding in general was all Illinois tonight as the Illini logged more offensive rebounds (20) than Presbyterian did total rebounds (19).

Turnovers weren't much of an issue in this game. The Illini did commit 8 in the first half, but 4 of those came in a span of less than 2 minutes when we just rushed things. The second half only saw one turnover.

All in all the game was a success for Illinois. This was a team who played a completely different style than we had faced in the first two games, and that's good to have as the schedule gets tougher from here. The one thing that seems to come up in every game is the parallel between the level of energy and the performance of the team. Weber said, "We probably weren't quite on our toes, motivated." Which you can still understand, but against Wofford the energy needs to be there as the game will be a "tussle" according to the head coach.

When questioned on the spurt of turnovers the Illini committed late in the first half, Weber said he talked to his guys about just keeping it simple. "Make the easy play and pass... you don't have to hit a home run. The guy's open, just throw it to him. It's human nature to want to make the lob or the dunk, but you don't beat good teams that way."

When asked about only shooting 7 free throws, Weber stated, "Seven isn't enough, but we shot 54% and moved the ball well so I think they were having a hard time keeping up enough to foul." I agree. The free throws will come when we play more aggressive teams.

Illinois hadn't broken 90 in 4 years... and they have done it twice this season.

It doesn't get any easier for Presbyterian after these road games against Illinois and Clemson... The Blue Hose still have road games at North Carolina, Ohio State, Dayton, Marquette, Florida, and Bradley. In total, 11 home and 18 road. After the game I asked Head Coach Gregg Nibert what it was like keeping moral up with so many tough tests. "You get better by playing the best, and we're going to take some lumps. We had a killer schedule two years ago, and we won 12 games in Division-1 last year and it was from playing teams like Duke. I always think it's important how you play in your conference, so that's what we're setting our goals on this year."

Put it all together, and there is a lot to be excited about. Like I said, the schedule only gets harder from here, but this team really couldn't ask to be in a better spot after three games. The team chemistry is there, and that is obvious. The talent is there, and that is even more obvious than the chemistry. The Illini have a chance to be pretty darn good this year, and it will all come down to each guy taking care of business inside of his own role because we have all of the pieces.