<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Providence has been playing zone defense for years under coach Tim Welsh. The Friars never played as well as they did Tuesday night. Ryan Gomes had 24 points and 12 rebounds, Donnie McGrath scored all 15 of his points in the second half and Providence used its 2-3 zone to beat No. 14 Illinois 70-51 in the opening game of the Jimmy V Classic. And the zone did what it's supposed to do: It made it very difficult for Illinois to score. "We held Illinois to 30 percent shooting and 21 points in the second half," said Welsh, in his sixth season at Providence. "That might be the best we've played the zone since I've been here." The Friars (4-1) overcame a terrible start and a 30-24 halftime deficit behind the offense of Gomes and McGrath and the effectiveness of their 2-3 zone that shut down the backcourt of the Illini (4-2). James Augustine had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Illini, while Roger Powell had 13 points. The starting backcourt of Deron Williams and Dee Brown entered with a combined scoring average of 32.0. Brown had four points on 2-of-9 shooting, while Williams had three points on 1-for-8 shooting. The Illini finished 2-for-15 from 3-point range compared to Providence's 7-for-16. </div> Full Recap This was a good game.Illinois started the game 12-0 up but the zone was their downfall.Their backcourt just couldn't beat it.Williams and Brown both could not get to grips with the defense which Providence used.Ryan Gomes had a super game.Very underrated player.He was everywhere tonight. Overall the double header was good to watch :thumbsup:
Yea, I was glad to see Illinois lose. I'm not a huge fan to say the least. But, yea, Gomes was terrific last night. What was it, 30 points and 12 boards, something like that.
Gomes has been doing the same thing year in and year out. Nobody just notices because he is on Providence. Him putting up a performance like that comes as no surprise to me, especially considering Illinois' thin frontcourt. My feelings on Illinois are like a rollercoaster. I can be very high on them, but then they just show nothing as soon as they gain my trust. Kind of like Michigan State too, I was skeptical of them at first, grew to buy the hype, and they have disappointed (don't turn this into a Mich. St. thread, despite their schedule they have disappointed). I tell people of Dee Brown, and Brown struggles. Maybe I'm a human jinx or something.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting sunsfan1357:</div><div class="quote_post">My feelings on Illinois are like a rollercoaster. I can be very high on them, but then they just show nothing as soon as they gain my trust.</div>There are many teams that have been like that thus far in college basketball. Everyone thought either Connecticut or Duke was the best team in the nation, then they both lost so everyone jumped on the Kansas and Arizona bandwagons, but then they also both lost. Lately, the hype has been surrounding Florida, but they too lost. I think we'll be seeing a lot of these dissapointing games in the future. It's likely just a side effect of college basketball becoming so much younger every season. Dee Brown is a good player, but he wouldn't be a team's first option in the early ninties or late eighties. Teams without veteran leaders are teams without consistant foundations and will in turn lose games.
Sure a lot of teams are winning and losing, but there are just teams that you feel good about consistently, Illinois isn't one of those teams for me. I know Arizona will bounce back after a loss, I know UConn will bounce back after a loss, I don't know if Illinois has the ability to immediately bounce back after losing a game.
Seems to me Illinois have no answer for zone defenses.The last two games I have seen them they don't have a clue how to get through it.Dee Brown basically looks lost when teams throw strong defence against him.Key to stopping him is to make sure they don't get any fast break points.They havn't in the last two games shown on ESPN.I agree whats said about alot of losses for the ranked teams so far.It really has been a rollcoaster season so far.As soon as you get a high ranking within a week you have found yourself dipping.
