Kolek-ting Champaign wishes....

[PointWarrior]

Marquette Worrior crowd was wrong

This is a great win to get on our resume. There were a lot of Scoopers who penciled this in as a loss. It's going to be a fun season.

[Daniel]

We win against a good team, and our three point shooting and free throw shooting stunk it up.   And we won!  Go Maquette!!

[brewcity77]

Aside from the zone stretch early, the defense was very good tonight. Illinois' lack of point guard play killed them. This is our first high-major road win in November since 2003. That's not a typo, it's been 20 years since we did this. These games are hard and we generally had control for most of the game. Excellent win. Very proud of the team tonight.

[PGsHeroes32]

What were rebounding numbers tonight? Felt like Marquette was pretty good on the boards tonight.

Big time minutes from Gold. Didn't score, but looked very good defensively.

He hit one of our few 3s...

[muwarrior69]

What were rebounding numbers tonight? Felt like Marquette was pretty good on the boards tonight.

Big time minutes from Gold. Didn't score, but looked very good defensively.

Actually Gold scored 3 pts.

Here is the Box Score

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401574573

[Daniel]

Aside from the zone stretch early, the defense was very good tonight. Illinois' lack of point guard play killed them. This is our first high-major road win in November since 2003. That's not a typo, it's been 20 years since we did this. These games are hard and we generally had control for most of the game. Excellent win. Very proud of the team tonight.

A great great win.  The effort was relentless throughout.  Proud of the team and coaches.   Great win!

[Dr. Blackheart]

Great game plan to attack and defend the paint. MU only shot 17 threes versus 33 for the Illini. MU won three of the four factors and ORB% was close. Benny with 7 rebounds in 17 minutes. Illini shot just 37% from two.

[mugrad_89]

He hit one of our few 3s...

I thought Gold was really solid on the boards.

[brewcity77]

Mentioned it in a group chat during the game, but Ben's rebounding is so improved this year. He's really securing the ball well, clearing out strong with his elbows, and making sure he has control before passing it off. Incredible off-season improvement from a guy who was below 10% defensive rebounding a year ago.

[brewcity77]

Defensively, Illinois made their last two-point field goal with 11:22 in the game. We absolutely locked them down defensively. Their entire offense was Goode threes and Shannon FTs. Their last field goal was at 3:12. This was one of the more impressive defensive performances of the Shaka era, especially with how they used defense to lock down the win.

[Goose]

brew

Many of their big wins last season had 5-10 minute stretches of lockdown defense to change the game and it was a big part of their success. Tonight was another example of locking down when needed.

[panda]

This team rules

[NickelDimer]

Most remarkable takeaway is how little dropoff there is, and in some cases an improvement, when we go to the bench. It's pretty nuts

[goldeneagle91114]

Most remarkable takeaway is how little dropoff there is, and in some cases an improvement, when we go to the bench. It's pretty nuts

+1 the backcourt is DEEP

[GB Warrior]

Most remarkable takeaway is how little dropoff there is, and in some cases an improvement, when we go to the bench. It's pretty nuts

When SJ leans into his strengths, he has a chance to be a really, really good point guard

[Carl]

This team rules

Enough from the stat nerds. I like this analysis

[5DollarPitcher]

Illinois made their last two-point field goal with 11:22 in the game.

Seriously? Holy crap.

[El Guerrero 2]

Ben is far and away our best rebounder, which may have him in a lot of close games in the 2nd half.  Can't get stops if you can't rebound.

Very disappointing effort from Joplin tonight. Looked like a deer caught in the headlights unfortunately. Hopefully he settles in as the year goes along. Sean crapped the bed with that double dumb TO / And 1 in the first half, but got comfortable and contributed in the second half.

But it all comes down to Tyler and Kam. They stepped up while Coleman Hawkins played a truly piss poor game as a senior.

[forgetful]

Aside from the zone stretch early, the defense was very good tonight. Illinois' lack of point guard play killed them. This is our first high-major road win in November since 2003. That's not a typo, it's been 20 years since we did this. These games are hard and we generally had control for most of the game. Excellent win. Very proud of the team tonight.

I'm assuming this is because Wisconsin is considered the low major of the midwest.

[brewcity77]

Seriously? Holy crap.

In that last 11:22, they only made two field goals, the Goode three over Oso (which should've been challenged better, but alas) and that deeeeep Shannon three. The rest of the points were at the FT line. We outscored them 21-12 during that time. In the words of the immortal Chris Farley, "that was awesome."

Very disappointing effort from Joplin tonight. Looked like a deer caught in the headlights unfortunately.

Jop had some moments tonight. I thought his defense was pretty good. He had some strong rebounds, though once he gets the ball he doesn't seem to know what to do with it (that one turnover was really bad). He also needs to diversify his interior game. He's very limited in terms of interior moves and for some reason just cannot dunk. That thing was all but down and still bounced out. If he can't find more consistency, I'm guessing we'll see Gold and Chase eat into his minutes.

[CAGASS24]

Shot under 30 percent from 3 , slightly outrebounded and only had 10 bench points - on the road against a ranked team that seems like a loss unless you're a plodding team and we're certainly not that - Defnese travels baby

[Judge Smails]

I thought Kam made some massive buckets in the second half. He is really a fun player to watch - sweet stroke from deep and silky smooth on the drive.

[wadesworld]

Still worried about Oso's shoulder. If that popped out and right back in that can be a recurring (and painful) issue. Hope it wasn't just adrenaline and that everything is good there.

Only worry about this team tonight was transition offense. OMax was very good in that department last year. The team was very bad in that department tonight.

[5DollarPitcher]

Only worry about this team tonight was transition offense. OMax was very good in that department last year. The team was very bad in that department tonight.

Nothing that a couple runs of 3 on 2, 2 on 1 can't fix. It wasn't talent it was decision making. Easy fix for a good coach.

[MUMountin]

They missed shots tonight that they normally make.  So many moments when they were hovering around that 6-7-8 range that if one three-pointer had dropped, it would've changed the complexion of the game.  It could've easily ended up being a 15 point victory if a few of those go our way.  On the flip side, Illinois was making big threes to keep them in it, but ended up being a bit of fool's gold that hurt them in the end.

The team did a great job of keeping their composure for that brief spurt early in the second half when they closed the gap and then took the lead and got the crowd back in it.  Kam and Tyler both came back a few times to make buckets to make sure that they never extended their lead to more than 3, and then the defense locked in for the last 11 minutes.