Too many cupcakes...............

Illinois looked like a challenged team against Michigan tonight. A team that has a hard time with scoring, playing defense and rebounding their opponents missed shots. They do get some easy offensive rebounds because their "bigs" have a hard time getting the ball in the cylinder--even when they are close. Overall Michigan outrebounded Illinois 33-25.

As I predicted earlier today, Jamar Smith finally broke into the starting lineup for the Illini, and he seems likely to take over the scoring leadership for the team. The three bigs for Illini really struggled in the game offensively, with Randle at 5 points, Pruitt with 6 points and Carter with 14 points. Pruitt in particular had trouble making shots within 6 feet of the hoop when going up against the larger players of Michigan. I think the Illini suffered from playing too many cupcakes earlier in the season, giving them false confidence they can score inside. Illinois shot only 38% from the field for the game.

The Illini actually did make a run and after Randle nailed a three with 3:18 left, Illinois was down by only 5 with just over 2 1/2 minutes left. Michigan brought the ball down and was running out of clock and threw up a badly missed shot. The ball came out and was rebounded by Michigan and thrown back to the rim. Illinois missed another rebound because Chester Frazier tried to block out Ekpe Udoh, a 6' 10" freshman forward. Why was Frazier guarding Udoh? Illinois was in a three guard offense. Needless to say, Udoh put the ball back in the basket, Michigan increased their lead to 7 and never looked back. (Hint to Illinois coaching staff: the 3 guard set works much better: a) against smaller teams, or b) when Luther Head and Deron Williams are 2 of the 3 guards, or c) when Augustine and Powell are the bigs.)

Rich McBride responded to being benched by scoring 3 points in 18 minutes. Those minutes might be better spent on Calvin Brock, who played only 6 minutes.

Oh well, road games are tough in the Big 10. Let's hope we can make life tough for the Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend.