Michigan Illinois game thread

Somehow Michigan is hanging with Illinois.  If we can start getting lucky with a bunch of 3's.....

Fighting hard. That's good to see.

Hitting 3 AND hitting free throws would be good.

Jones feet stuck in concrete caused the rotation issue and the three. Frankie plays better defense 

Faulds has played well…and I get the game plan is attack Kofi, but we have to do it with ppl other than Faulds/Jace

Might be the hardest the team has played all season, but when you have to give two walk-ons significant minutes against an All-American center it's not going to end well. 

It's hard for me to believe Jones was a great player at Coastal Carolina. How?

I don't understand why we aren't more competitive.

Michigan starting to lose touch with Illinois. They've done everything right so far except make shots.

Illini coach should get a technical for the uber-bad hair color effort

fightin'!

I like what I’m seeing from Jones so far. Maybe he can help us after all 

We gonna break 20 pts for the half, after that scoring binge.

I think the smaller guys on Kofi is working better than Faulds. Surely the dude has a free throw line shot? Handing the ball off all game isn’t gonna work. 

Win or lose, Juwan came out with a great game plan for this game

At the 4 minute mark in the 2nd half…Michigan is only down 3

I like Howard, he’s smart, in the right spot and makes plays. 

3!

Michigan wins this game if they start hitting shots.

Could we get one play-by-play guy and one color guy? Cuz it feels like two color guys and no play-by-play

Ok stop going to Faulds 

Look. Ilini fans are cheering us

WTF was that last possession??? We waited til the shot clock was at 5 to do something?

So far, so good

Great game plan by Coach Howard.

Faulds, son, you are playing your ass off. But for the love of God please stop trying to shoot over Kofi Cockburn and pass out of the post. 

We're trying to run offense through Jaron Faulds against Kofi Cockburn.  Juwan has lost his fucking mind this year.

Wasted the last few possessions after the Jace  hustle and Frazier foul. Diabate has to play a lot of minutes in the second half. Too many wasted plays to Faulds down low. 

just don't understand how you don't recruit kids who can shoot 

To be honest, this is the best coaching performance thus far this season.  They’ll probably lose contact in the second half, but Howard has them playing way better than I think anyone would have thought.  The complete lack of a back up center is now a glaring weakness.

With us in the bonus, why weren't we shooting on that last foul?  (Offensive foul on the inbounds, it looked like--they kept playing the replay, so they really didn't show the foul.)

Great effort on defense and rebounding in the 1st half. This is a game for Devante to shine. Need to keep the pick and roll going, just dont pass to Faulds when he's in the game. Go Blue!

In other news, Moritz Wagner explodes for 26 points to lead the Magic in a rare win, including 4 for 8 from deep. Little bro Franz second on the team in scoring with 19/6/7, going 8/11 from the field

adding:  in a close game, Franz was a +24! He is having a special rookie season

Really impressive half.  I totally get how it must feel to be an Illini fan right now.  Totally overmatched the team you're playing but a weird group of guys, poor shots that bounce weird and end up Orebs for the other team anyway, hustle plays galore...and somehow you're winning by only 4 when it probably should be more like 15.

Michigan FG% 28

Michigan 3pt% 14

Michigan FT% 50

with those numbers we should be down double digits 

Showing some grit.   It's kind of comical that we're within 15 points with a decimated roster that hasn't played a game in 10 days.   Keep fighting, men!

This team needs a swing-5 man. Someone who can drive and shoot on offense. Kofe can't guard that type of player without fouling. I think Tschetter can be that guy next 4 years.

I applaud the effort. Hardest they have played all year. Kudos on D. Wow, it’s painful to the eyes to watch this O. Really notice it with no Hunter down low. Nobody is any good. Brooks only guy who looks to have talent but they have removed him. He isn’t a 1st option. Excels in the 3-5 option. Just painful. I don’t care about stars, maybe means something in the future, but this team lacks talent. Honestly might be worst shooting team I have ever seen. Not even an exaggeration. 

I thought Frankie’s defense out top was really good. Much like Jace, maybe put T Will on Kofi when Diabate is out. Faulds is a traditional center(limited) and Kofi eats those up.