Loyola Chicago (8) vs. Georgia Tech (9), Friday, 4pm ET, TBS

[g0lftime]

Lots of push offs and elbows not called. They seemed to get all the breaks and loose balls. Some were just luck and not anything else. We did not get open threes and no high screens to create them. Without Moses we were a different team on both ends. Pastner needs to find a center in the portal real quick.

 

[gt24]

We couldn’t rebound without Moses. Instead of running offense thru the ACC POTY, we had to run it thru our defensive starter who’s not an offensive threat. Truth is, Moses was the one guy we couldn’t lose.

first couple possessions we ran princeton through usher as the 5. then switched to khalid. i suspect (not sure tho bc i did not watch matchups those first possessions) that was because they had CK matched on khalid but with CK sagging off him. so then pastner has to decide does he want CK sagging off khalid as a perimeter cutter or as a high post facilitator.

if CK had been matched on Ush, i suspect Ush would have stayed in the 5 spot of princeton all night. just a hunch.

 

[lauraee]

Lack of offensive rebounding killed us plus the their rebounding was the difference.

And their 3pt shooting.

 

[g0lftime]

Usher was the MAN today. Great effort. Glad he got to give a little shot back on them today. I thought the refs let too many push offs, forearms and shoves go today.
He took some high elbows today. One to the throat that wasn't called. I hope these jerks lose to Illinois.

 

[jacketup]

Can a game with no rules be a game or a sport? In my opinion college basketball is a game where the most important "rule" --fouls--is really not a rule. If you think it is a rule, then objectively explain what a fouls is in context of an actual game. The people who enforce the so called rules--the guys in the striped shirts--- are purely arbitrary in their calls. What kind of game is it where the rules are based on repeated arbitrary judgment?

In football, officials blow calls, but rarely impact the final outcome. In basketball, officials influence the outcome of almost every game where the teams are relatively equal. How is that enjoyable to watch? Did your team win, or did it just get the most arbitrary breaks?

I admit that I haven't enjoyed college basketball since the 2015 Final Four. The outcome of that Final Four was clearly driven by the officiating.

 

[lauraee]

There was a big ACCT vs NCAAT back & forth going on here the last week. Now everyone remember why the NCAAT matter more?

ACCT is more esp considering Illini was next if we had won this game

 

[Northeast Stinger]

So instead we traded 2s for 3s

Yes. The 2s would have been sure things. The 3s were not. Like I said, we took a calculated risk.

 

[RamblinRed]

Loyola was the better team today. My hats off to them, they are a good team.

Our team fought hard without our best player (and only big right now) and it wasn't enough.

rebounding and 3-pt shooting were the differences in the game. Defensively we were sagging to prevent them from getting good looks inside, we had to do that because we didn't have Moses. That meant they were going to get open 3-pt looks. Unfortunately they had their season high in made threes today 11-27.

Offensively without Moses they were able to change their defense and put Krutwig on Moore and just let him sag to the middle which eventually clogged up lanes to the basket. Also, without Moses when the guards penetrated during the season often Moses would be the recipient after the defense collapsed, he was not there to get those passes.

I think with Moses we win against Loyola the majority of the time. But today they were better than we were.

Frankly it was a heck of an offensive game by the team - shooting 60% from the field. Unfortunately Loyola got so many extra chances with offensive rebounds and foul shots (which also occurred because we didn't have Moses to play defense along the back line) that we got overwhelmed.

Frustrating way to end the season, but not particularly surprising.

 

[lv20gt]

Then I would say if the pace of play was lower than what we wanted then they were the ones who imposed their will on us, which really is the essence of team sports. I have no problem saying that if we played them 10 times without Moses, they would win 8 out of 10 times. i did not see us having a single advantage over them (again without MW in our lineup).

Let me say I thought our kids gave it all their all. I am proud of their accomplishments to date and effort today.

That is an entirely different discussion.

Yes, they controlled the pace. They did that largely by holding onto the ball, getting walled when they tried to drive and passing it around the perimeter. Then, they combined that with taking advantage of us going tiny and getting 12-1 Oreb so they could keep doing that. The first is because we were more athletic and they struggled to and the second was because of an advantage they had inside, which again, is a different conversation. If you want to argue that we should have been able to speed them up with better athletes, our guards had to also help out with making sure they didn't take advantage of our weakness inside.

They had one player, Williamson, that could hang with Usher, Mike, and Jose athletically, and basically lived off threes that they got largely because we were forced to help inside because of a lack of an interior presences most of the game. They passed well and hit enough shots to make up for it, but their guards were largely outmatched athletically.

 

[RamblinRed]

ACCT is more esp considering Illini was next if we had won this game

Based on our contract with Adidas, winning the ACC Tourney was way more important. That title is getting GT an extra $900K over the next 3 years.

 

[gt24]

That is an entirely different discussion.

Yes, they controlled the pace. They did that largely by holding onto the ball, getting walled when they tried to drive and passing it around the perimeter. Then, they combined that with taking advantage of us going tiny and getting 12-1 Oreb so they could keep doing that. The first is because we were more athletic and they struggled to and the second was because of an advantage they had inside, which again, is a different conversation. If you want to argue that we should have been able to speed them up with better athletes, our guards had to also help out with making sure they didn't take advantage of our weakness inside.

They had one player, Williamson, that could hang with Usher, Mike, and Jose athletically, and basically lived off threes that they got largely because we were forced to help inside because of a lack of an interior presences most of the game. They passed well and hit enough shots to make up for it, but their guards were largely outmatched athletically.

agree.
LC passing was very good. veteran team moving the ball right time right place for high quality shots.

 

[Pointer]

That is an entirely different discussion.

Yes, they controlled the pace. They did that largely by holding onto the ball, getting walled when they tried to drive and passing it around the perimeter. Then, they combined that with taking advantage of us going tiny and getting 12-1 Oreb so they could keep doing that. The first is because we were more athletic and they struggled to and the second was because of an advantage they had inside, which again, is a different conversation. If you want to argue that we should have been able to speed them up with better athletes, our guards had to also help out with making sure they didn't take advantage of our weakness inside.

They had one player, Williamson, that could hang with Usher, Mike, and Jose athletically, and basically lived off threes that they got largely because we were forced to help inside because of a lack of an interior presences most of the game. They passed well and hit enough shots to make up for it, but their guards were largely outmatched athletically.

I think all of their quick passes took Jose's stealing away as well. Compare it to the FSU game when they would try to drive in to score, Jose would get a hand on it (most of his steals came from this). That wasn't happening today because like you said, they were just passing it around the perimeter. They definitely did not out=athlete us, it just really came down to rebounds, which is where we missed Moses the most (defensively as well, but glairingly so on offensive rebounds).

 

[lauraee]

Personally I hope they take another big 10 team out showing they were overrated. I want all the big 10 to lose.

 

[FightWinDrink]

Kofi is gonna destroy their interior

 

[Lawyer mark]

I am biased, so maybe not the best judge, but I thought officiating was awful and in their favor. Proud of our team and the year as a whole. Hate it ended this way for some of the guys, but was a fun run through acc tourney and we are back on the map of college basketball. Hoping the ladies can keep me watching basketball, because I won’t watch much without tech...

 

[g0lftime]

Our guys played inspired defense today. They really got after it but without Moses we gave up too much size and bulk inside. Rebounding killed us. The team went out with tremendous effort today. Much harder to play defense and they got after it today. Sorry to see it end.

 

[GT05]

Solid team would be different with Moses. The refs did not let them play. I think Illinois will take their lunch. We had a good game plan and the kids played hard. Love this team.

 

[JDjacket]

I definitely believe with Moses we win by 10. Not to take anything away from Loyola but watching the game and seeing not only our shooting but also our athleticism... our only downside was no second chance points and almost no way of preventing them from getting them. I think they had 15-17 2nd chance points. With Moses id say we’re probably 50-50 there so 8-8.

I know some people will root for Loyola against Illinois but I will be team Illinois. I may be wrong big time but I think Illinois steamrolls them. They could have pulled their starters at half today.

 

[lauraee]

Kofi is gonna destroy their interior

I want Illini to lose & I think Loyola can do it.

 

[Milwaukee]

I want Illini to lose & I think Loyola can do it.

Not a chance in hell. We woulda beat them by 10 to 20 with a full roster of perfectly healthy asymptomatic Covid positive players.