Illini win this one 84-63. DJ Richardson played extremely well. 23 points (8 coming in one stretch that sealed the game for the Illini).

Keller was pretty much nonexistant, even on the boards. I thought he played well in the first exhibition so I was a little disappointed.

Mike and Mike played within the offense. Tizzy got to double digits scoring, but I would like to see more touches for Davis on the post.

McCamey had a pretty rough game (at least early on). He made some bad decisions passing the ball and his shot was a little off.

Legion shot the ball well to start coming off the bench, but cooled off down the stretch. Paul did just enough to justify his starting spot in this game. Cole stepped in late and made three open tre-balls. Griffey played solidly in his limited minutes.

I was really impressed with Jeff Jordan. He didn't score, but did play stingy D and had 4 assists. In my opinion he played a better point than McCamey. I can easily see Jordan playing point and switching McCamey to the 2 guard when Richardson needs a blow.

Overall, the defense struggled a little bit. I think we shot two many 3-pointers; not enough driving to the rim (as opposed to the last game). But we seemed better on offense (a lot more motion). This was against a D-II opponent that is picked to win its division, so playing a tough game that we managed to pull out a 20 point win is a good sign (it did seem like Quincy wore down a little bit in the second half though; benefit of our depth, maybe?).

Your thoughts?

I agree with much of what you say, but continue to be baffled by what people see in Jordan. If Bertrand ends up having to sit out this season, Jordan is going to have to play some, but, imo, he just doesn't bring much. Decent but not great defender, barely adequate as a ballhandler at the point, no scoring threat at all. The freshmen guards should get every minute they can handle before Jordan gets in.

A little concerned about Davis drifting through both exhibitions, he needs to pick it up. I trust he will once the games are for real. I thought Legion was a little better tonight, but jacked up too many shots. Need him to get better quickly, not a lot of depth on the perimeter.

The ability of Quincy to spread us out and hurt us with dribble penetration was disturbing. Finally adjusted to it, but I'm sure other, better teams will try the same. We did play good D in spurts, consistency should improve as the young guys get more experience.

I'm starting to get a little concerned.

Yea...we didn't win by 60. With our fan base...someone will be calling for Web's head by the end of the week.

My guess is he is a lunch bucket guy who plays defense on every possession. I agree with you, I would rather see the three freshmen play, and hope that Coach has enough patience to let them work through their mistakes. Mainly, I like Jordan b/c he is a good, athletic practice guy.



One good thing is at least BPaul and DJ can bring some of that dribble penetration to practice against. Last year, the only time these guys saw it was in the games, and they looked shell shocked. Too bad, DWill can't come to more practices.

It was 1 point game with ~10 minutes to go. Our main returning 3 aren't exactly setting the world on fire after two games.
Counting on freshman to tow the line against future, superior competition compared to D2 teams is unrealistic.

Also I forgot, thanks to those that took the time to write a game recap.

Here's my 2 cents....

The cubboards well stocked for the first time in a while. Freshmen are long, athletic, and not afraid to shoot.

Dmac-Looks a little slow compaired to DJ and Paul. Will need his steadyness as the season progresses.

Alex is gonna be fine, nice addition.

Rebounding is this teams biggest obstical.

Getting to the line more and shooting better when we get there.

Keller is the most aggresive big guy and so far deserves (from what I've seen in the scrimmages) to start over Davis.

Scoring a lot more than last year.

We've got a really good Coach and Staff.

This is gonna be fun!

This game was a bit disconcerting. I realize it was an exhibition and doesn't matter, but I still don't want to see Legion shoot every time he touches it, see absolutely porous defense (inc. def rebounding) against an inferior team and see the team settling for a jump shot against the zone every time down.

Hopefully it was just a bit of a hangover from just practicing and playing against each other.

I didn't see the game but my guess is BW trusts JJ's defense more than the frosh and therefore he will play, esp in crunch time.

Weber's post-game comments on Jordan:

It looked like Jeff Jordan brought the team together.
Bruce Weber: He gave us a little boost of energy and he was excited to be able to play for the first time. He went to exhaustion and that’s the part of his conditioning where he needs to catch up. He got to the point where he just stopped and that’s our fault, we left him in too long. He gave us a nice little boost and pushed the basketball, that’s what he’s been doing. He’s smarter, older and can give us some defense so we were pleased that he got some minutes. He’s never going to be a great scorer, but maybe he can do some things that some of our other guys can’t.

Better get used to it. JJ is our new Chet!

Your main man Weber likes one of those guys on the floor whether he can score or not.

And those other guys can do a lot of things that Jordan can't. DJ, Paul and Bertrand are far more talented. Give them the minutes, and they'll be much better by the end of the season.