Ohio St. dropping 3 straight surprised me, back to back tough losses may have had a hand in Iowa being able to run them off the court a bit. Got to say didn't see Iowa immediately improving while losing Nunge and still dealing with a sub 100% Frederick.
For the first time this season we as a team are playing with a sense of desperation. It's something we have greatly lacked with Ayo in the line up. Over the last two games Illinois effort for a complete 40 minutes of basketball has been unmatched this season. It may not be pretty at times, but we are getting more loose balls and forcing jump balls than ever before. I love how hungry we are playing as a team without Ayo.
The Wisconsin game was no doubt ugly. 20 turnovers is unacceptable and most of which was unforced, but the defense OMG. The defense was a thing of beauty. Nobody on Wisconsin could do shit, though they had a few open looks from 3 that didn't go down, a lot of the time I felt like they were rushed. Our on ball defense was at a very high level, so much so that I think its the biggest reason why Wisconsin hurt us on the offensive glass. They had zero open looks from inside the arc. Trice is just a straight up baller and performed the greatest Reggie Miller impression the worlds ever seen at the college level. But I be damned if I didn't watch us make 10 straight free throws to stave it off. Being how terrible of a free throw shooting team as we are, that was big time.
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