This is my concern also. Sparty turned both of those games into slug fests and it worked. Because officials wont call every foul. An msu has a dozen guys to run out there.
On the issue of MSU being gassed, I wonder if thatās as true as we think it is. Regarding Henry and Langford, definitely. Everyone else, maybe not. Look at minutes played last night. Most of the roster played about 15-20 minutes, with Langford at 34, Henry at 37 and Gabe Brown at 29. Playing a game two days later after playing 20 minutes doesnāt seem like it would be that hard even if it comes near the end of a long stretch of games. Izzo has done crazy things with his lineups, but the result is that heās got some guys with reasonably fresh legs, all things considered.
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Illinois missed a dozen layups or dunks against MSU that day. They couldnāt hit ANYthing that day. I felt that one was much more about Illinois beating itself than MSU succeeding at anything.
Iām not 100% sure but I think MSUās defense numbers are significantly worse on the road than at home, where the officials seem to tolerate more of the rough stuff.
One thing we have going for us is that they canāt hack Hunter every time he gets it like they did Cockburn. Heās too good of a FT shooter for that.
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I wonder if we played IL again would we go to a Hack-a-Coc*(burn) approach? Weāve got fifteen/twenty fouls to expend.
Guess I should probably hush lest MSU get the same idea. . .
I love this line! Kofi is a very large man, and he doesnāt ājustā have massive size. He is a skilled low post power player.
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Dylan, you predicted a split, but reserved the right to change your opinion after game 1. Would you like to exercise that right?
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