Illini beat Michigan

So Illinois avenged it's loss to Michigan by beating them at home 66-51, and a few things about this game stood out to me, the casual observer. Now mind you, I missed the first 6 minutes of the game because Penn State decided to foul as much as possible against Michigan State during the last 2 minutes of the game. Once the game started I noticed the following things:

1) Demitri McCamey is by far the best player on our team. If you don't think so, you are crazy. The first half of this game we played very sloppy basketball, and the only thing that kept us in this game in the first half was the fact that McCamey scored 15 of our first 28 points. Also for the third game in a row he started the Illini's scoring by hitting a 3, and finished off the half scoring 12 of the Illini's last 16 points.

2) I am still waiting for a good game against a good opponent from Trent Meacham. Right now it is a guarantee that he will shoot terrible in close games against tough opponents just like it was a lock the Brian Randle would get 2 fouls before the first TV timeout last year. Allow me to elaborate. Trent is averaging 12.2 points a game this year, not bad, but consider how he has gotten to that point. So far this year, you would have to say that our biggest games have been against Vandy, Kent State, Tulsa, Clemson, Mizzou, Purdue and Michigan twice. That is 8 games, so the other 9 were pretty much cupcakes. You can also pretty much throw out Mizzou, because that game was a blow out in the first 10 minutes, and Trent scored 15 points after it was already a 20 point lead in the second half.

So without the 23 point out put against Mizzou, Trent is averaging 8.5 points a game, and last night against Michigan he scored 8 of his 11 after we were up 15. Here are his shooting stats in our big games.

Vandy 4-8 (4-6) from 3. 14 points
Kent State 3-7 (1-4) from 3. 7 points
Tulsa 3-8 (0-2) from 3. 6 points
Clemson 3-8 (0-4) from 3. 6 points
Purdue 4-7 (0-1) from 3. 11 points
Michigan 2-9 (1-7) from 3. 5 points
Michigan 2-9 (1-5) from 3. 11 points.

I am completely nit-picking here because when you have a team that is playing this well so far it is hard to find things to complain about. I am just worried that down the road we are going to need Trent to step up and bury some big 3's for us when McCamey is having an off night, and it might not happen. On the bright side he is playing good defense and is getting in the lane and to the hoop better than any guard on the team.

3) Alex Legion is not where we thought he would be. It is a little unsettling that the only player who seems to take terrible shots is Alex Legion. Yes, Calvin Brock has taken some bad shots, but Legion's all seem to come with about 30 seconds left on the shot clock and after only 2 passes. The rest of the team moves the ball so well, and you aren't sure when the ball will be shot. When Legion is in the game you can tell instantly when he touches the ball if he is going to shoot. I am more than willing to give him all the time he needs though, because it has to be difficult to sit out over a year and then try to get back into playing at game speed. He is the only person on the team with a shoot first mentality, but one day he will get hot and that mentality will score 30 points for us.

4) Mike Tisdale has a great offensive skill set. He is playing much tougher with his back to the basket even in the last 10 games. Early in the season you would see him get pushed off the block and shoot hook shots fading away from contact. Now he is putting his shoulder into people which is not giving defenders space to try and get up and block his shot. His touch outside is incredible, which now sheds some light as to why Weber had him attempt 3 game winning 3's last season. (Because lord knows Trent would have missed them) Just kidding.

5) Teams are now playing Mike Davis tight inside of 15 feet. I will be very surprised if we see very many more Mike Davis 14 foot jumpers from the baseline off of pick and roll anymore because teams are now either not hedging as much on the screens, or rotating over baseline help. This does free up dribble penetration and look for more kick outs to guards for 3. Mike is going to have to work for all of his points now, but he has such great balance and touch inside that he should be fine. He is still rebounding like a monster which a lot of people, like me, were very worried about from him.

6) Michigan is who I thought they were. Michigan has lost 2 out of 3 on the road, it really should be considered 3 of 3 though, because going to overtime against Indiana is a loss for anyone's program. They also lost their only neutral site game. 3 point shooting for those games:

Duke Neutral Site - 6 of 22 (27.3 %)
Lose at Maryland - 12 of 29 (41.4%)
Beat Indiana at IU - 12 of 40 (30.0%)
Lose at Illinois - 7 of 26 (26.9%)

Besides the Maryland game they have shot like crap when they are not at home. Shooting below 30% from 3 3 out of every 4 road game is not gonna win shit in the Big Ten unless it is against Indiana. They will only win 3 Big Ten road games. Look out Iowa and Northwestern.