As I have said in an earlier thread, Their guards are better then ours....but Cockburn is a completely different player then he was, even from our first meeting. If you take him out of todays game, the Hawks win going away. Of course, the Illini could say the same about Luka. But, as much as I LOVE Luka and would not trade him for ANYONE....Kofi had his way with him. I know others have said it, but having Jack in there would have made a HUGE difference. If you go back and watch the first meeting with them, Jack's foot speed and length was more effective against Cockburn then Luka. I am curious to see how other teams in the dance handle Cockburn. The guy is an ABSOLUTE BEAST and should make some good money at the next level.
Kofi was the key........
- Thread starter Hawkman34
- Start date
Kofi scored 9 in the first game when we had Nunge..........
Iowa w/Nunge > Illinois
/thread
Iowa w/Nunge > Illinois
/thread
...you lost me at 'the Hawks win going away.' 
Besides that, I agree with everything else you said. Something tells me if Cockburn would have fouled out early, Giorgi would have stepped in and probably had a monster game. The Illini just are too deep when compared to our bench. I really think our roster has too many guards and/or not enough BIGS > 160 lbs.
Besides that, I agree with everything else you said. Something tells me if Cockburn would have fouled out early, Giorgi would have stepped in and probably had a monster game.
The Illini just are too deep when compared to our bench. I really think our roster has too many guards and/or not enough BIGS > 160 lbs.
Iowa w/Nunge > Illinois...you lost me at 'the Hawks win going away.'
Besides that, I agree with everything else you said. Something tells me if Cockburn would have fouled out early, Giorgi would have stepped in and probably had a monster game.
Yeah, 0 fouls first half, lol
Bull in a Fing china closet.
Refs tighten up second half, four fouls in 14 minutes. He should have fouled out in the first half.
Bull in a Fing china closet.
Refs tighten up second half, four fouls in 14 minutes. He should have fouled out in the first half.
maybe, not having Nunge does make a big difference...dare I say I wish we still had Pemsl now?
Again.....Cockburn scored 9 in our first game. Was that because of Garza's stellar defense?maybe, not having Nunge does make a big difference...dare I say I wish we still had Pemsl now?
Nunge needs to get that brace that Batman had in The Dark Knight Rises and gtf back out on the court.......
...you lost me at 'the Hawks win going away.'
Besides that, I agree with everything else you said. Something tells me if Cockburn would have fouled out early, Giorgi would have stepped in and probably had a monster game.
If Cockburn had fouled out early, Garza might have scored 40.
Kofi is a load and in the first meeting, Nunge kept him off-balance. Today, there was no Nunge, which put even more pressure on Garza not to foul. Kofi earned his points, but he had some buckets that Garza simply couldn’t contest, including a big one late when Garza had 4 fouls.
Garza had a rough go of it today, no doubt since he was getting double/tripled teamed. I just don't see us easily winning without Cockburn. If Cockburn goes out early, yes Luka's points go up, but I imagine Ayo's would have also gone up as well with Giorgi playing adequate defense.
Maybe. Ayo’s probably do go up, but it changes things when Kofi isn’t down there. That’s why I hated the 4th foul on Garza so much - Hawks had just put Kofi out with 4 fouls and then Garza got his.
Don’t mistake my comments - this is a REALLY good Illinois team that is hitting on all cylinders right now. This is the kind of team that high seeds will see in the Elite 8 or Final Four.
Plenty to like about this team, though. Iowa has won 8 of 10 and they’ve only allowed 70+ points 3 times and they won one of those games. Illinois got 82 today and the last time Iowa gave up 80 was against OSU on Feb. 4.
Don’t mistake my comments - this is a REALLY good Illinois team that is hitting on all cylinders right now. This is the kind of team that high seeds will see in the Elite 8 or Final Four.
Plenty to like about this team, though. Iowa has won 8 of 10 and they’ve only allowed 70+ points 3 times and they won one of those games. Illinois got 82 today and the last time Iowa gave up 80 was against OSU on Feb. 4.
Lots of angles to take on the game. One that stood out to me was that Kofi was one of many options for IL. They could take him out for a rest without missing a beat as others guys made shots. Iowa did not have this luxury with Garza. When Kofi came back he was rested while Luka looked pretty gassed. Kofi was getting dunks while Luka was having to work his ass off just to get a semi-contested look.
I was hoping Luka would take him away from the paint and go with his square up jumper game, but that didn't materialize outside of a couple busted play shots. Kofi getting deep touches 1:1 is not going to end well for any defender. Have to help on him and doing that against IL results in 3's raining from multiple guys.
I was hoping Luka would take him away from the paint and go with his square up jumper game, but that didn't materialize outside of a couple busted play shots. Kofi getting deep touches 1:1 is not going to end well for any defender. Have to help on him and doing that against IL results in 3's raining from multiple guys.
You had Nunge the first game...and you lost.
indisputably
...(unless you take into consideration that they beat us with Nunge too)
Iowa needed to do to Kofi what many teams have done to Garza--throw 3 bodies and 15 fouls at him and make it miserable on him. Unfortunately Iowa's depth is long and lean not big and bulky. I would have thrown Josh O. in the fray just to give Kofi another big body to deal with. Would have been throwing the kid to the sharks to an extent, but maybe his youthful exuberance and big body do enough to slow Kofi down / wear on him a little.
I agree with fact that we did get beat when we had Jack, but we did not have CJ and he makes a huge difference for the Hawks. Although, he did not have a good game today. And, I also retract my statement about margin of victory....we would not have won going away...but we would have had a much better chance of winning for sure. It would have been fun to see what we could have done at full strength for sure.
I'd say the fact they have much more athletic and talented guards than we do was a big factor as well. They went by anyone whenever they wanted to. That and Connor shouldn't be on the floor, and wouldn't be if dad wasn't the coach. We have some of the slowest, most unathletic guards in the nation.
the narrative here has always been Iowa w/CJF > illinois
He could/should have been called for 3-seconds in the lane numerous times. Once he establishes position down low and the refs ignore 3-seconds, it’s a huge advantage....because you’re not able to move him out of the lane.
Actually I did take that into consideration and shame on you for not giving me the benefit of the doubt there.......
No C.J. Frederick in that first game, either.
However, there's two things to note. First, Nunge's scoring began to improve following that game, and more importantly, he helped hold Cockburn to just 9 pts in that first meeting.
Cockburn probably still has a good game, but Nunge being in there to contest shots and giving Luka more rest would've made a difference in the score. You can argue if you transfer the 4 pts he had in the first game over and say we're still short, that's fine, but the point is that he would also have been a vital part to keeping Illinois' score down as well.
Of course, if you want to take this argument a different route you could talk about the fact that Connor didn't bother to shoot the ball in yesterday's contest after being a factor in keeping Iowa in the game in the first meeting.........
Perhaps his 0-3 performance against Wisconsin scared him enough to not take shots against Illinois. The world may never know.
But what I know is this.......
Iowa w/Nunge > Illinois
Deal with it.
Giorgi was getting abused defensively and always has. He is too short for post defense. There is little doubt if Kofi had played like he did in 1st outing, the game would have been very close or Iowa win.
Losing Nunge was a huge blow. Luka looked a little tired yesterday and could have used more rest on the bench.
Right, dammit! We would have kicked Illini ass if only Connor McCaffrey hadn't played. 😂
I'd definitely agree on that - maybe I am thinking Giorgi is not as good as I thought.
The Russian is inconsistent offensively but plays solid defense. He can brick dunks one game and break Deon Thomas’s single game scoring record the next. Weird player.
I wonder if we should have at least tried bringing in scrubs and done the hack-a-Kofi thing. Dude is a monster but aside from layups/dunks he isn't an offensive threat.
Garza could not play defense as he had an early foul and was on the brink of the 2 foul mandatory benching if he’d got another, playing Nunge would not have lessened the 1 foul Garza required timid play.
Iowa players simply can not play aggressive physical defense [which is required vs Kofi) if they want to play 38m
Fran should’ve brought Ogundele in for D on Kofi and let Luka play D on the power forward and dare the low scoring forward to score from the perimeter
there were options vs Kofi, they just were not utilized
