The memory I'll take away from this game is turning the TV off with Illinois up 43-28 at halftime, then turning it back on in the second half and seeing that the score had suddenly ballooned to 68-32. Admittedly, Presbyterian is
undermanned this season, but there's no reason to feel guilty about the Illini's second big blowout win in three tries. Presbyterian actually executed their game plan, holding the tempo to 64 possessions (after Illinois averaged 75.5 in their first two games), while their 2-3 zone kept Illinois off the foul line (just 7 free throw attempts). Unfortunately for the Blue Hose, the talent disparity was too great, as the Illini hit 11 of 26 from 3 and 28 of 46 from 2, and despite missing only 33 shots, picked up 20 offensive rebounds (!). Illinois scored on a ridiculous 64% of their possessions and the defense wasn't too shabby either, as Presbyterian was just 4 of 24 from 3.
Plus/minus chart:
Once again, the team played well no matter who was on the court. D.J. Richardson led the team at +31 but he also played the most non garbage-time minutes. The one starter who scuffled a bit was Mike Tisdale, who has had a slow start this year. At some point, I'll start posting season-long plus/minus statistics and examining lineups, but the numbers don't really mean anything at this point in the season. Next up: Wofford!
