Illinois Defensive approach to Garza

[perryhawk]

In his post game interview the Illinois coach said of Garza, we wanted to hit him as hard as we could.

I actually like Underwood and like that he is very straight forward in his comments, very truthful. That said, I find that approach as a problem.....if you go back and look at the first foul called where the Illini forward dropped down on Garza to help Cockburn you will see that he is executing what his coach told him to do.

I get physical defense, and this is the B10....but that approach is just a step over the line. It creates some of what we saw later in the game, from foul trouble for the Illini to tempers flaring later on. Over time I think it gets the refs to not call less severe contact...desensitizes them. They see some contact and think....that wasn't that hard, not gonna call it.

 

[jamesvanderwulf]

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Luka Garza is 6-foot-11 and can hit 3-pointers.

That foiled Illinois' defensive plan against the Iowa junior center.

Garza, the Big Ten's leading scorer, bounced back from a slow start to score 25 points and No. 18 Iowa clamped down in the final four minutes to beat No. 19 Illinois 72-65 on Sunday.

Garza, who added 10 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season, didn't have a point in the first 15 minutes. He wound up making four 3-pointers on nine attempts, both career highs, and shot 9 of 16 overall.

The plan for the Illini against Garza was to be physical.

"Just hit him," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "He's 290 pounds. Hit him on every shot."

 

[Legend12]

As physical as Garza is when establishing position, beating on him is about the only way to stop him.

 

[HawkAttackDial911]

I hope the refs heard what he said

 

[BBHawk]

As physical as Garza is when establishing position, beating on him is about the only way to stop him.

And so far it really hasn't worked

 

[CanadaHawk]

And so far it really hasn't worked

At least, Luka has learned to adjust.

 

[cleotishaywood]

At least, Luka has learned to adjust.

And adjust he did! He just took to his outside game where Cockburn & Gorgi Porgi couldn't maul him or contain him!

 

[BioHawk]

Illinois isn't the first team to try that approach with him. I would say the results have been...lackluster at best. However, if you don't do that then he can easily put up 40+ on you.

 

[LetsGoHawks83]

I hope the refs heard what he said

The refs can't see during the game, why would you think that they could hear outside of the game?

 

[HawkRugged17]