02/26/2014 - At Illinois Report Card

There are at least 3 players who should get player of the game over Shields. He had two of the worst turnovers of the night including the one which rice took for an and one, and the one after the rebounding foul on the inbounds.

Edit: and I forgot about the time he went 1 on 3 fast break and kicked it with his heel in the first half

I agree that it doesn't matter much, but I would have given it to Smith.  He really helped us hang in there for as long as we did. 

We missed more shots in the first half than we attempted in the 2nd half.  Oof

Do we ever seem to do well when the damn thing gets delayed by programming?  I remember one year in NCAA tourney it was too much to ask for us to see the start of the Uconn game.  About 5 minutes in we were getting our ass kicked by 10 or so it seemed and never a game.  Just hate when we cannot watch from the outset.  Never seems to end well.

The worst part about the TOs was that they were pretty much unforced. So many lazy passes and stupid decisions. It was like a pickup game out there.

What was somewhat alarming was that (what seemed like) most of the turnovers occurred in the last ten minutes.  We were playing good at the start of the second half, and them...BOOM!  Did we get tired? 

After thinking about it, the Illinois games went the same way for the home teams....a close half time game where the home team went on a spurt in the middle of the 2nd half to put away the game.

I agree that Smith, Rivers, or Parker should have been player of the game. All were more effective than Shavon for the minutes they played and none made the costly turnovers or poor judgement plays that he did. Shields will have plenty of other opportunities but this was a chance to recognize one of the role players.

I agree that Smith, Rivers, or Parker should have been player of the game. All were more effective than Shavon for the minutes they played and none made the costly turnovers or poor judgement plays that he did. Shields will have plenty of other opportunities but this was a chance to recognize one of the role players.

This ^^^ Shields was AWOL for a good chunk of the game.

This one disappointing because it was SO winnable, even after a lousy 1st half.  Their big boy went to the bench in foul trouble & we kept settling for jumpers. Also Ray, Pitch, Tai - 5 points... 

Seemed that Rivers and Parker were co-MVP's tonight. 

Did anybody see Shields obviously upset on the bench after he turned it over for a lay up in the second half? Hunter was trying to calm him down but he had his head in a towel and looks overly frustrated. Seems like a little bit of pressure might be creeping up on these guys. You could see it last night. I think they want it almost TOO much. You gotta just go out there and play basketball, can't let things outside affect the game.

Looks good...except for giving Shields the player of the game.  He was not good last night. 

Just a bad night for pretty much everyone. They'll bounce back.

There are at least 3 players who should get player of the game over Shields. He had two of the worst turnovers of the night including the one which rice took for an and one, and the one after the rebounding foul on the inbounds.
Edit: and I forgot about the time he went 1 on 3 fast break and kicked it with his heel in the first half
 

I agree that Smith, Rivers, or Parker should have been player of the game. All were more effective than Shavon for the minutes they played and none made the costly turnovers or poor judgement plays that he did. Shields will have plenty of other opportunities but this was a chance to recognize one of the role players.

This ^^^ Shields was AWOL for a good chunk of the game.

Seemed that Rivers and Parker were co-MVP's tonight. 

Looks good...except for giving Shields the player of the game.  He was not good last night

Agree with all these above statements - we would have been crushed totally without Rivers - Parker - Smith - and even Webster's 3. 

Shields has alot of talent - but plays way too tentative alot of the time - is not a quick and decisive passer much of the time (including inbounding) - often easy to pick up where the ball is going with his slow non-decisive passing decisions -- which he often "telegraphs"  Also let's his man get by him numbers of times on defense.  He has a lot of talent - and can be a great player - but needs to become more confident and assertive on a consistent basis.

As for what happened to the greatly talented Petteway last night - who knows?

Need to regroup fast - and get back to our momentum we had going.  

 

Dave, I think the board disagrees with your player of the game (and for many good reasons).  Do you want to change it?

Dave, I think the board disagrees with your player of the game (and for many good reasons).  Do you want to change it?

You can make a pretty good argument for Shields just like you can make an argument for a lot of guys.  He essentially had a double-double

Change it?  The man comes on here on almost every great win and gut wrenching loss and puts out a report card.

Everyone has the right to disagree with it but it certainly doesn't mean at all he should or needs to change anything.

Nebraska looked like a typical team that couldn't make a basket. They tried to force things, and Illinois exploited that.