UNI vs. ISU birds

[MeOW!]

Re: UNI vs. ISU birds

I would like to see us play with this Illinois State second half intensity for 40 minutes!

Big three game home stand for the Panthers coming up.

[FerociousCat]

Re: UNI vs. ISU birds

Did UNI hold ISU to 15 points in the second half? What 5 guys were on the floor the majority of the last 8 1/2 minutes where ISU didn't have a field goal? Those are tough defenders.

Viet, JJ, Jordan, Koch, and not sure if it was Montgomery/Dunham/Reed. Viet had a bucket off a missed FT, and then a 3, he provided the spark we needed.
The Redbirds forced a lot of shots and made quite a few dumb fouls that really helped us. If we could have only converted more from the line.
EC played poorly, couple charging fouls, couple travels. When he gets the ball away from the basket it doesn't usually end well.
Great comeback, now lets protect home court!
Go Panthers!

[Panther-Sheik]

Re: UNI vs. ISU birds

I think we need to keep the "defensive intensity" thoughts in check, though. I listened to the whole game as many of you did. It sounded very similar to the first half except that instead of hearing "ISU shoots a 3...its good", we heard "ISU shoots a 3...its off the front of the iron". It wasn't like we were preventing them from shooting, they simply weren't making the shots. I don't say that to bash our guys, I say that to point out that Indiana St. and Ill. St. both made a lot of shots...Ill. St. couldn't buy one in the second half and yet they kept firing up shots with 20 seconds left on their shot clock. I am more concerned about our offense than our defense. Not everyone will shoot lights out on us...but if we can't score consistently, make freethrows, not turn the ball over, rebound etc., we will be left begging for poor shooting from the other teams we play every night. With that said, I do think we can and will break out of our shooting funk...just keep shooting and keep playing hard(er). And, speaking as an "idiot", comeback or not, I think Jordan needs to learn how to play at this level. I don't want our 7'1" center to be our 3 point specialist...regardless of whether he can make that shot or not. I want him to be able to bang down low and free up the outside for our guards. Jordan never had to bang in high school and was a foot taller than his competition on most nights...not his fault. However, he needs to learn and grow into this level of play and that is why I think a redshirt year would be good for him. When an article has to be written in the paper about him getting a bloody mouth (and it sounded like it was a first for him in his life), that tells me that he has a lot of growing to do and I don't want to look back in two years and reflect on all of his potential instead of success.

[Kyle]

Re: UNI vs. ISU birds

I think we need to keep the "defensive intensity" thoughts in check, though. I listened to the whole game as many of you did. It sounded very similar to the first half except that instead of hearing "ISU shoots a 3...its good", we heard "ISU shoots a 3...its off the front of the iron". It wasn't like we were preventing them from shooting, they simply weren't making the shots. I don't say that to bash our guys, I say that to point out that Indiana St. and Ill. St. both made a lot of shots...Ill. St. couldn't buy one in the second half and yet they kept firing up shots with 20 seconds left on their shot clock. I am more concerned about our offense than our defense. Not everyone will shoot lights out on us...but if we can't score consistently, make freethrows, not turn the ball over, rebound etc., we will be left begging for poor shooting from the other teams we play every night. With that said, I do think we can and will break out of our shooting funk...just keep shooting and keep playing hard(er). And, speaking as an "idiot", comeback or not, I think Jordan needs to learn how to play at this level. I don't want our 7'1" center to be our 3 point specialist...regardless of whether he can make that shot or not. I want him to be able to bang down low and free up the outside for our guards. Jordan never had to bang in high school and was a foot taller than his competition on most nights...not his fault. However, he needs to learn and grow into this level of play and that is why I think a redshirt year would be good for him. When an article has to be written in the paper about him getting a bloody mouth (and it sounded like it was a first for him in his life), that tells me that he has a lot of growing to do and I don't want to look back in two years and reflect on all of his potential instead of success.

Gary even commented during a few parts of the game that ISU was doing everything it could to let UNI back in the game and UNI finally took advantage of it with 7 minutes left to play.