IUWBB @ Illinois - 2/14/21 @ 3:00 ET on BTN+

[Class of '66 Old Fart 86,550]

IUWBB (12-4) (10-2) on the road at Illinois (3-12) (1-11) and absolutely no reason to come out with what has become a habit of sluggish starts.  Let's finish them off early and give the bench some quality minutes.

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ABOUT THE FIGHTING ILLINI
The Fighting Illini are coming off a loss at Minnesota on Wednesday and win over Purdue on Sunday. They are led by sophomore guard Jeanae Terry's 12.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while sophomore guard Jada Peebles adds 11.3 points per game while sophomore forward Kennedi Myles adds 7.4 rebounds per game. As a team, the Illini are averaging 60.5 points per game and shooting 36.7 percent from the field.
 
NOTES

The Hoosiers are coming off a sweep of Penn State as they took the second meeting of the season, 90-65, on Wednesday. They were paced by sophomore forward Mackenzie Holmes' 25 points and junior guard Grace Berger's third triple double of the season with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

IU shot 51.5 percent from the floor in the win over the Lady Lions, its third consecutive game scoring 50 percent or more from the field. It was the sixth time this season they have shot over 50 percent in a single game.

With her third triple double of the season, Berger ties former Iowa guard Sam Logic (2014-15) for a Big Ten record three triple doubles in the same season. In addition, the Louisville, Ky. native is the fifth player in NCAA Division I women's basketball to record a triple double against the same team in the same season. She joins Dawn Staley (Virginia, 1990-91), Sonja Tate (Arkansas State, 1992-93), Tasha Pointer (Rutgers, 2000-01) and Sabrina Ionsecu (Oregon, 2019-20).

Indiana brings its longest win streak over another conference opponent in to Sunday's game, having won the last 11 games in the series dating back to the 2013-14 season. They will look to go for the season sweep on Sunday when it travels to Champaign as the two teams met on Dec. 31, 2020 in a 79-56 win for the Hoosiers.

A season win streak is also on the line for Indiana on Sunday, having won its last three games and seven of its last eight.

 
UP NEXT
Indiana returns home to host No. 12 Michigan on Thursday. Tip time and TV designation is still to be determined. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 86,550]

Let's make it quick and painful for Illinois and get back to Bloomington before the snowstorm really sets in.

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 86,550]

Man, what a time lag between the stat tracker and Greg Murray's radio coverage.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 86,550]

Our modus operandi  --  another sluggish 1st Q but we are leading 13-9.

We're shooting just 3-12 FG; 0-3 on 3s; 7-9 FT. 

We've already committed 5 fouls (Gulbe with 2) and 4 TOs.   2 Illinois players each with 2 fouls.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 86,550]

Kiandra Browne with significant contribution in just 5 minutes of play in the quarter with 4 pts. and 3 reb.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 86,550]

Halftime and we've opened up a 34-21 lead.

Paige Price played the last minute of the half.

Points:  Patberg 7; Holmes 6; Cardaño-Hillary 6; Browne 6; Berger 5; Gulbe 4

Reb:  Holmes 5; Browne 3

Assists:   We have just 1 on 9 made FG

IU:  38% FG; 0-4 on 3s; 80% FT                        Illinois:  32% FG; 29% on  3s; 75% FT.

Gulbe picked up her 3rd foul in the quarter; Patberg and Berger each with 2 fouls.

No home cookin' officiating for Illinois as they have 5 with 2 fouls each and 2 with 3.  We're 16-20 FT and Illinois just 3-4.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 86,550]

Very poor 3rd Q and letting Illinois hang around as we lead  44-37.   We ended the quarter just 1-14 FG shooting.

Points:  Patberg 11; C-H 9; Berger 8; Browne 6; Holmes 6; 

Reb:  Holmes 7; C-H 5; Berger 3; Browne 3

Assists:  No one with more than 1

Shooting:   IU   30% FG; 22% on 3s; 73% FT                             Illinois   29% FG; 40% on 3s; 90% FT

Holmes having a game to forget shooting just 1-12 on the day but she does have 7 reb.

Gulbe picked up foul #4 with 7 min. left in the 3rd Q.  Berger 3 fouls.    

[Aaron 4,319]

Glad we are playing Illinois today as we would lose to anyone else not named Wisconsin in Big Ten with this effort. Just a 7 pt lead after 3 and letting them hang around for no reason. Also, someone kidnaped Holmes' talent today as she is missing every easy lay-up. She still is making her sick moves down there but instead of making the shot as she always does she is missing bunnies. 

[Aaron 4,319]

Still up just 5 at last media timeout. Holmes is singlehandedly responsible for this game being a nailbiters missing about 15 layups. If she had her normal game we would be up at least 20. She just has no confidence at this point and is blowing every layup. When your elite post player struggles as she is you are in a war with a horrible team. 

[Aaron 4,319]

Lead is down to 3 but looks like we got their big fouled out finally and Patberg to the line. She has been the one messing up Holmes today with her defense but most of that is Holmes missing bunnies she usually makes when guarded the same by anyone else.

[TheWatShot 14,464]

Geez, what happened? We were up 18 when I checked earlier, now it's 3 point game. 

[Aaron 4,319]

IU up 3 with just over a min left and doing pretty much everything wrong. Photo finish.

[Todd41 734]

It has been painful to watch. 

[Aaron 4,319]

Lead back up to 5 on a Cardano-Hillary layup with under a min. left.

[Aaron 4,319]

IU gets the ball back up 5 after an Illinois miss.

[LamarCheeks 20,022]

Damn. Holmes is 1-for-16.

I haven't done the math, but that's not a very good shooting percentage. 

[Aaron 4,319]

Patberg to the line up 6 with 30 seconds left.

[Aaron 4,319]

Patberg makes both now and we should be ok. Up 8 with less than 30 sec left. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 86,550]

What should have been a cakewalk almost turned out to be a mudpie but we escaped with a 58-50 win.

Points:   Patberg 16; C-H 11; Berger 10; Gulbe 8; Holmes 7; Browne 6

Reb:  Holmes 10; C-H 5; Berger 5; Patberg 5

Assists: C-H 2 and 4 with 1 apiece.

Shooting:     IU - 32% FG; 17% on 3s; 67% FT                     Illinois - 30% FG; 31% on 3s; 90% FT

Holmes couldn't find the basket today with a GPS hitting just 1-16 FG.

[Aaron 4,319]

Don't know if this is an Illinois thing as this is the third straight time we have survived against them in Champaign in maybe our worst game of year. Its our 12th straight win over them but games against them on road have not been easy while home games we have beat them to a crisp.

So glad we survived and I would assume it means nothing going forward as we had same issues last year in Illinois and it was a one game thing. Don't think Holmes will ever go 1-16 again with many missed easy layups. She makes even half of those misses we win easily as we should of. 

We better hope this was a fluke though as we play a really good Michigan team Thursday. If the IU that played Iowa and Penn State in second half shows up we are in terrific shape. If todays IU shows up which I doubt we are in big trouble and will lose by double digits. I have mentioned luck several times recently on this board and IU got lucky that they played their worst game of the year against one of the two worst teams in the Big Ten or they would of lost. 

Don't apologize for the win though, count your lucky stars and take solace in the fact every win counts the same and you are still in the Big Ten Championship race. Ohio State had the same reprehensible performance against an equally bad Wiscy team and lost last week so never take a win for granted no matter how ugly.