Corey had ice in his veins down the stretch and overall was a monster today. So was Eugene and Thiam finally came on in the end. Also Pikiell made some adjustments and Sa and Doorsan really played Northwestern's bigs really tough in the second half.
Back to Issa. He needs to learn to square his shoulders and not rush his shots. Too many times he rushes and doesn't square his shoulders and we see what we saw tonight for most of the game. In OT when Corey drove and passed it to Thiam, I saw his shoulders square and knew he was going to nail it, which he did.
How many times have we watched this team work their asses off and come away with the loss? In fact this was the FIRST OT win since we beat Seton Hall in 2012. In the immortal jazz tune by Chuck Mangione, "It feels sooooooooo good." Finally! We got the win.
As to next year, it's obvious how we desperately need shooters. Northwestern was killing us from outside especially Lindsey in the second half. Down the stretch, Corey and Issa proved clutch and made some threes when prior to that we missed something like eleven in a row.
I was hoping for a win tonight and one against Illinois to return the favor of being blown out in Champagne. I definitely feel that's possible. And one other possibility; not finishing last in the B1G. Man I would love that.
One last comment: kudos to Pikiell for benching Freeman. I don't know what Freeman did, but prior to this game the kid was just not playing team ball. Pikiell is not only a very good coach but a leader. He sent a message. Yes, we missed Freeman's rebounding ability, but the rest of the guys picked up the slack. The last game, Freeman missed something like seven chippies. That's inexcusable especially when he was hogging the basketball. Pikiell will not allow dissension on this team. I love that about him.
Back to Issa. He needs to learn to square his shoulders and not rush his shots. Too many times he rushes and doesn't square his shoulders and we see what we saw tonight for most of the game. In OT when Corey drove and passed it to Thiam, I saw his shoulders square and knew he was going to nail it, which he did.
How many times have we watched this team work their asses off and come away with the loss? In fact this was the FIRST OT win since we beat Seton Hall in 2012. In the immortal jazz tune by Chuck Mangione, "It feels sooooooooo good." Finally! We got the win.
As to next year, it's obvious how we desperately need shooters. Northwestern was killing us from outside especially Lindsey in the second half. Down the stretch, Corey and Issa proved clutch and made some threes when prior to that we missed something like eleven in a row.
I was hoping for a win tonight and one against Illinois to return the favor of being blown out in Champagne. I definitely feel that's possible. And one other possibility; not finishing last in the B1G. Man I would love that.
One last comment: kudos to Pikiell for benching Freeman. I don't know what Freeman did, but prior to this game the kid was just not playing team ball. Pikiell is not only a very good coach but a leader. He sent a message. Yes, we missed Freeman's rebounding ability, but the rest of the guys picked up the slack. The last game, Freeman missed something like seven chippies. That's inexcusable especially when he was hogging the basketball. Pikiell will not allow dissension on this team. I love that about him.
