Aftermisery Thread: Illinois 78, Michigan State 73.
by LVS on Feb 6, 2010 10:35 PM CST
in Michigan State Spartans Basketball
31 comments
State fought valiantly, but was ultimately done in by a 27.4 offensive TO%, Illinois' otherworldly offensive efficiency (120.7!), and a virtuoso performance by Demetri McCamey. It's an understandable and predictable loss, but it still hurts. Tuesday's game against Purdue looms large, and Kalin needs to heal at warp speed.
KJ will have your recap later this evening. Until then, vent here.
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Biggest regret
Korie’s momentary meltdown in the second half? No.
Green’s ticky-tack bailout foul? No.
The dubious continuation call? No.
Korie switching onto McCamey at the end instead of Morgan? No.
Not enough minutes to Kebler? Maybe.
But really, I wish MSU could have gotten a much better look at the end. That Summers shot was rushed and heavily contested – the sort of thing you take in desperation at the last second. Maybe it’ll look better tomorrow but live and on the reply it looked awful. That’s the number one thing (outside of having Lucas, of course) I wish could have gone differently.
I actually thought the point of no return
Was on the possession immediately after the continuation call, when they called a held ball instead of a foul when Raymar tried to go up with the ball.
PP-TPW.
The Only Colors
Yeah, that didn't help either but
in no way let my subject line or post suggest that I blame this game on the refs. Sure, there were dubious calls all over but, LVS, your brief blurb conveys the most important factors. That’s the bottomline of whatever KJ writes.
Game is definitely not on the refs.
There were a few calls in the 2nd half that I didn’t agree with, but overall, I thought they did a reasonably good job. All I’m saying is that after we didn’t get the foul call, I didn’t think we’d ultimately win that game.
PP-TPW.
The Only Colors
Co-sign
If we have a legitimate complaint about no more than three or four calls, the refs have done a reasonable job (can’t expect perfection, realistically). The continuation, jump ball, and bailout call on Green are about the only ones I’d argue. Unfortunately, they all came at critical junctures in the game.
Let them play
For sure. Calls can go either way and the refs will miss a few here and there, like that “held ball” call. But it was nice to see the officiating crew take a hands-off approach… They let em play.
And
I honestly thought we were going to win until Summers went up for the shot and I felt instantaneously that he had little chance of hitting it.
OH
And yeah, Lucious instead of Morgan guarding McCamey at the end really bothered me. Given how he played, and his importance to the Illini offense, you knew that McCamey would be the one to take that last shot. And yet, we leave the 5’11" guy, who had been struggling all night, to check him? That’s a facepalm.
PP-TPW.
The Only Colors
Izzo mentioned it in the postgame
Definitely not Coach’s intention. I spent the whole play thinking “I hope Korie doesn’t end up on McCamey when it comes time to take the shot” because I figured what would happen. As Izzo said, he doesn’t make that shot over Raymar. It’s tough to control switches all the time but I wish Ray and Korie could have found a way.
One of the plays I, unfortunately, saw coming. Faceplam, indeed.
MSU guards are taught to switch on all picks
Instinct took over there.
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Feb 6, 2010 11:08 PM CST up reply actions
Agreed. totally
It would have taken a real act of cognitive and physiological will to keep Korie off McCamey in that switching situation but the inability to do it was one of the major factors that killed MSU down the stretch. As I said, don’t really expect Korie and Ray to pull it off but it was probably necessary to get the win and would have been nice.
On the other hand, can’t Izzo give special instructions? “Ray, you stay with McCamey no matter what!”
"On the other hand, can’t Izzo give special instructions?"
I noticed the switching. That sort of instruction was what I was hoping for.
PP-TPW.
The Only Colors
The only difference in this game
And the other Illinois games the last two years was McCamey. He finally went off on us.
I thought Izzo used his timeouts judiciously
That helped keep things close, but it would have been nice to have one more at the end to set up a play.
The calls down the stretch went against us, which isn’t shocking on the road, and that made it a pretty challenging hill to climb.
Just got 2 tickets for the Purdue game
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Feb 6, 2010 11:41 PM CST reply actions
I just realized how absurd our schedule is
Yes, we manage to dodge @OSU. But Wisconsin came into our game with a bye the half-week before. Purdue has a bye this weekend. And Penn State has a bye midweek before playing us next weekend.
Three out of four playing us immediately after a bye. That shouldn’t happen.
Second Minnesota game was the same way (mid-week bye for them before it). Ours is before the second Purdue game (so at least we have that going for us, both games in that series are a bye for the road team the half-week before); the other was at the very beginning of Big Ten season (which we filled with the UT-Arlington game anyway).
The Big Ten schedule-makers really ought to try to balance that a bit. Four of our 18 games come with the opponents getting extra rest, two on the road; Purdue has only two such games (Illinois and us, both at home).
Scratch that
All four of ours going up against opponents with extra rest are on the road.
Make that three out of four
I can’t count right now.
I just realized how absurd Illinois' schedule is
This was their first win over a team other than PSU, Iowa, or Indiana. They lost to us, NW and Purdue. They will not be in it at the end. Unfortunately they peaked against us. And even then, with Lucas we get them. Ugh.
infuriating
Lots to be proud of. We were nearly blown out three times and fought like hell. Some will say the refs had no effect, but there were three atrocious calls in the last 2 minutes that all went their way. The Morgan held ball call was bad beyond belief, one of the worst calls of the season I have seen anywhere. Dmitri hit his shots. As great as DayDay was on the glass and on offense, he was awful against Davis. Dude had open jump shot practice.
by rook34 on Feb 7, 2010 12:07 AM CST via mobile reply actions
If not for the turnovers ...
We went over 1.5 points per possession when we didn’t turn it over. That is an absurd number. Even with a turnover percentage north of 25, we cracked 1.10 PPP.
Game recap
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Feb 7, 2010 12:15 AM CST reply actions
MSU staying put
I know it isn’t completely accurate, but ESPN bracketology had MSU holding at a #2 seed. Surprised they didn’t slide Purdue into that spot, who arguably has better wins and fewer losses.
Off topic but relevant to the photo
I would probably cut off my left pinky toe for that velour jumpsuit.
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