The Illinois basketball team entered Tuesday night’s road contest against 2-4 Wake Forest with much optimism.
After starting the season 6-0, Brad Underwood’s squad was looking to prove they shouldn’t be looked at as a pushover team in the Big Ten this season. But, the Illini suffered an 80-73 loss to the Demon Deacons.
Now, let me start off by spending a little time talking about the officiating. Honestly, this was one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen at any level of basketball. There were missed calls left and right. Not only did they take away an offensive foul they called on the Demon Deacons – which you can’t do – but they completely blew a very important goaltending call that ended up being a major momentum swing for Wake Forest. To go along with that, Illinois was called for way more fouls than their opponent. This officiating, in my opinion, was absolutely unacceptable, especially in power-five conference college basketball.
Now, as many people have touched on already, the officiating is not why the Illini lost, although you can’t say it didn’t play a part in the outcome. The Illini simply looked lost against a much longer and bigger Wake Forest team. Again, they could not figure out the zone of the Demon Deacons, an early-season problem that needs to be addressed. The Illini have some shooters that could get teams out of their zones, but they just casually swing the ball back and forth along the perimeter. If you watched the game, when the Illini got the ball inside and worked inside-out, good things tended to happen.
Along with the struggles against the zone, a few players just simply didn’t show up to play. This starts with Michael Finke. Finke, one of the veterans of the squad, finished with just 2 points, compared to his previous season average of nearly 15 points per game. This is unacceptable from a guy who has been there. He needs to provide more for the Illini. I was also very disappointed in the play of Mark Smith. He looked so lost and unconfident. I understand that this was his first true road game, but he really underperformed Tuesday night.
The Illini just made way too many mistakes to win the game. Whether it was stupid fouls, turnovers, or missed defensive assignments, the Illini had far too many. All of these areas were of concern for me after watching the game.
The good thing, though, is that it is not time to panic. Yes, it would’ve been nice for Illinois to pull out the victory. But, there are still some positives to take from the loss. First of all, this was the first true road game for them, as previously mentioned. I expect the Illini to rebound and play a little more poised on Friday at Northwestern (although that is almost like a neutral site game).
The play of some guys was also a good sign. Aaron Jordan is just playing out of his mind right now. I thought Da’Monte Williams had a solid game, and Kipper Nichols looked good as well. Honestly, I think a lineup that might have to be looked at for more minutes is Jordan, Williams, Smith, Black, and Finke. Those guys really played well together last night when they were in there, so if the Illini are struggling that might be a lineup to go to during a game moving forward.
The Illini still have two more chances to pull out victories against quality opponents this week as well. I think they should at least pull out a victory this weekend, although two would be nice. Realistically, the Illini will probably go 1-1 for the rest of the week, which I would be okay with.
Next: Good, bad and ugly from Wake Forest loss
Yes, it was a very frustrating game against Wake Forest. It was definitely a winnable game, but the Demon Deacons aren’t as bad as their record shows either. I expect the Illini to bounce back and improve on some areas they have struggled with going into the weekend games.