The refs weren’t allowing any physical contact on defense either. The whistle was going both ways but it definitely favored their more  aggressive offensive style. It was a good game if we played them 5 times I don’t see things unfolding the same way with Vlad getting so many quick fouls or them shooting 80% in the second half. 

There is a long season of basketball ahead of us and we chose to play these difficult early season games to help us down the road.

There are plenty of 1 and 2 loss teams in the top 25 and one 3 loss team, it is just the way things go in college basketball.

I am keeping the faith and looking forward to getting Nick Boyd back into the lineup soon.

UConn was 13-6 in conference play last year and dominated the tournament in March.

This isn’t football.  

Illinois had a statistically insane night.

We will be just fine.

There is no shame in losing to Illinois. They have good size, they have a bunch of seniors, and they got hot. I don’t think Dusty realized we were going against white Carmelo Anthony. I’m just invested and want to see us keep doing well. 

Walter is 100% correct. The Illini shot unrealistic numbers. We are also unrealistic if we feel we will win all these big games. Just proves how amazing last season was. We still need to play Arizona down the road. The key from here out, win the games we should win and most importantly STAY HEALTHY.