Illinois blows lead and loses in the first round to VT
I was pretty impressed with the first half of the game by Illinois. We held VT to 21 points and had 29 of our own points. In the 2nd half we increased our lead and things looked positive for a potential SIU/ILL matchup on Sunday. Unfortunately VT had other plans as they brought a very impressive full court press. The problem wasn’t beating the press, it was getting sloppy once we broke it. Weak lazy passes were very common and it helped VT get back in it. There were several questionable no-calls in the final seconds that should probably have been called, but I can’t blame the refs for this one. Illinois gave the game away. They handed it to VT and they weren’t going to pass it up. We played stupid basketball, just didn’t use their heads. It’s very depressing as we had the game and played wonderful defense. I was hoping we’d pull it out to prove that we belonged in the NCAA tournament instead of the NIT. Now I’m not so sure if we did belong there. Illinois broke the win streak of the Big Ten as they were the only one to lose in the first round. What makes it so upsetting is it wasn’t lack of hustle, skills, talent, but just the fact they didn’t use their heads and buckled under the pressure. With Carter and McBride gone next year, I’m not sure if we’ll be any better. But I don’t even want to think about it right now. Weber needs to turn things around next year and some how get it through the player’s heads on how to play smart basketball. We blew way too many games this year when we had the lead.
P.S. Kansas won by 40….
P.S. GO CUBS!!!
