Go West, Young Man
So I felt targeted by Robert’s recent article about the men’s victory over Tennessee:
“...I'm always saying "just get here." Road wins can be so much fun. Those second half threes – the Wagler three, the two threes from Big Z, and the final dagger from Mirk – were as "absolutely lose your mind" as threes can get. And if Andrej had been able to flush that dunk, you might have felt the rumble back in Illinois.
What a night. The next time we play a game like this?
Just get here.
Here’s a quirky not-so-fun fact about myself…in my 35 years of Illini fandom, I have attended the following:
Home games: approximately 250+
Neutral site games: One (Bragging Rights 2016)
Road games: ZERO
I have my reasons for the above (the biggest is that my job requires a lot of evenings and weekends), but it’s not that I don’t WANT to attend a road game. I do. But I’ll confess a little trepidation about the idea of sporting orange in a sea of purple/red/whatever while your team crumbles before your eyes. It’s hard enough to watch that on TV. Investing time and money into a trip that could result in heartbreak just makes me anxious.
The closest experience I’ve had would be a Cubs/Cards game at Busch Stadium in 2015. At that time, the Cardinals were still Cardinal-ing and my Cubs hadn’t quite broken through. I went with three Cardinal fans and wearing blue in that crowd of red felt pretty lonely. The Cubs jumped out to an early 6-1 lead, but as the Cards chipped away, I got that feeling in the pit of my stomach. Sure enough, the Cubs blew it and that ride home with my buddies was not a short one.
Well, guess what…the streak is over. I traveled west into the belly of the beast to watch our women take the court against the rival Missouri Tigers.
Yes, “Bragging Rights” isn’t just for the men’s basketball team. The baseball teams play each other nearly every year (all time record: 21-21-1), and so do the women’s basketball teams. In fact the first game that made us take up and notice in the Shauna Green era was the road victory over Mizzou in 2022. (all time record: 10-7 in favor of the Illini) This school rivalry transcends the Scottrade Center and I was eager to experience this game in enemy territory.
Quick recap since last I wrote:
at Florida State -
Illini started slow and then blew the doors off the Seminoles, 86-63. This was the first time (but not the last) that we saw that next gear from this team.
vs. Western Kentucky -
Final score (70-41) doesn’t indicate how ugly this game was. A sluggish three quarters until the good guys pulled away in the fourth.
vs. Le Moyne -
This one was over the second they stepped out of the locker rooms. Le Moyne was in the 340s in Torvik and they didn’t have a prayer. 100-28 victory.
vs. Bellarmine -
I know this is a young team and Shauna probably wanted some tune-ups before conference play…but geez, this team was nearly as bad as Le Moyne. (In fairness, they had some injuries and only 8 players dressed.) Anyway, a ho-hum 49-point victory, 90-41.
vs. Indiana -
Ahh, finally a worthy opponent! Our first close game in nearly a month, perhaps? Nope. The Illini put on an absolute clinic and the 21-point margin was not indicative of the domination that we inflicted on the Hoosiers for 35 minutes. 78-57 win and the rest of the conference takes notice of a young and hungry Illini team.
State of the team heading into this MIZNOZ match-up: I think this is a darn good group, y’all. We started the season at #65 in Torvik and we’re now sitting at #42. The January conference schedule still looks brutal, but I think this young team might be ahead of schedule.
Traveling West
Anytime Robert does one of his mailbags, someone invariably asks about his road trip routine. Here's mine:
Food and drink: coffee, flavored water, honey roasted peanuts, and a banana
Playlist: podcasts (movies and sports) and some 90s jams
Pit stops: gas in Effingham (CHEAP), some family in the Metro East
Speed: five MPH over the limit
Champaign to Missouri clocks in at over 4 hours...and let me say, I-70 is no more scenic west of the Mississippi than it is on the east side. Nothing to see here, folks.
I roll into town about an hour before tip. There's a Hooters right next to my hotel. Sorry, but no late-night wings or my wife will change the locks.
Oh, and this was waiting for me in my hotel room
Well played, Fairfield Inn. Well played.
Game Time
Parking was easy, short walk to the arena, bought a ticket and we're in. I looked for an "Illini section"...best I found was four members of the Rebounders club (drove in from Decatur) about 15 rows up behind our team bench. Probably 15-20 conspicuous Illini fans in the building, though there weren't really THAT many Mizzou fans there either.
To the actual game:
- Mizzou was 9-2 coming into this one, but they've played a lot of close games against some pretty small schools. Torvik had them at #79, and Vegas had a -7.5 spread in our favor.
- You couldn't ask for a better start. Gretchen drained two quick threes, Missouri missed their first TWELVE shots and we built a quick lead. Now, the Tigers wound up keeping this game close, but I found this so heartening: I knew we were the better team about one minute into the game. Clearly more skilled, more cohesive, more talent...I had a pretty good feeling about this one almost from the tip.
- Nor could you ask for a better end. We had an arm's length lead through the entire first half but Missouri got HOT from three in the third quarter. The lead was whittled down to two a few times...but I had this sense that we had this thing in the bag. Which is weird for me to feel so confident with a team with so many underclassmen playing vital roles. But we got the stops that we needed to and hit enough free throws to send the fans to the gates early. Final score: 70-62
- Aaliyah Guyton is still hurt (I don't think we know the injury), so we only played seven players. Look at these minutes:
Gretchen: 40
Destiny: 39
Cearah: 30
Berry: 25 (foul trouble much of the game)
Jasmine: 25
Maddie 22
Lety: 19
Observations: Berry will usually play closer to 30+ (being our best player and all). Cece and Lety actually shared the floor for long stretches which we haven't seen much before. Destiny can't leave the court while Guyton is hurt. And I still think Maddie needs more minutes...she is SUCH a spark off the bench. (She's gotta be one of the favorites for B10 6th Man of the Year)
- A note on Gretchen: I think she’s back? Look at this four game stretch in November and see if you can spot the one that doesn’t fit:
Oregon State - 4-19, 11 pts
Murray State - 3-11, 9 pts
Florida State - 11-19, 25 pts
Western Kentucky - 1-10, 6 pts
Weird. But she’s back on track since. She was 3-6 from three tonight (despite only 19 percent from three coming into the game, oof) and hit some huge mid-range jumpers when the game was getting tight. She led us in scoring with 21 points.
- I can't overstate how much I love watching Destiny Jackson play, y'all. She is an absolute joy. So, so disruptive on the defensive end (I think opposing point guards toss and turn the night before going up against her), and in complete control of the offense on the other end. I wish she would be a little less deferential and get up some more shots, but I think that will come with time. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying every second we get to watch her.
- Finally, we're a game ahead of my season prediction. I said we'd only grab one of the three non-con road games (Oregon State, Florida State, Missouri) and we got two. Boy, this is fun.
Postgame
I work with three Mizzou grads and they all recommended the same things: Shakespeare's for pizza, Sparky's for ice cream, and a trip to the Columns on campus. Met my cousin for pizza and beer at Shakespeare's (excellent), grabbed some ice cream after (Oreo coffee flavor, also excellent), and I'll see the Columns tomorrow before I head back.
First road game in the books...hopefully not the last. See you at home, friends. Go Illini.