Monday, November 21, 2005

Illinois 71, Texas Pan-American 59

• Starters:  Dee, Augie, Randle, Rich, Pruitt
• Texas Pan-Am had the lead for most of the first half.  Give credit to their zone defense.
• And BTW, our younger players need to learn how to play against a zone.
• The main point of these early season games is to figure out how good our team can become.  It is silly to be concerned about the players we already know are really good.  If those players have a mediocre game and our less experienced players make a big contribution, this is a Good Thing.
• For this reason, it was nice to see another very good game for McBride.  8 assists!
• And Randle.  Nice dunk off the feed from Augie.  Nice fast break.  8 rebounds.
• Brock didn't play at all.  Is it time to start worrying about him transferring?
• Obviously Pruitt and Arnold were abducted by aliens Saturday and each was transferred to the other's body.  Pruitt was nearly useless.  Arnold was pretty decent.
• Dee scored the first points of the game on a 3-point shot.  Unfortunately, the next two shot attempts were also his, and he missed them both.
• All in all, Illinois attempted 34 three-pointers.  At least all the attempts came from our guards.  Still, see aforementioned remarks about playing against a zone.
• No complaints about Dee, however.  20 points, 15 of them on treys.  He's still settling into his new role.
• Jamar showed a lot of composure for a freshman.
• Chester is a fine PG.
• Remarks about Chester being a better PG than Dee are absurd. 
• Derrick East should have gotten a technical for that mini-tantrum he threw.
• Free-throw shooting was atrocious (4 of 12).
• Fun game.  I knew Illinois would make a run at the end of the first half.  You did too, right?