Ice House

Every basketball game tells its own tale with its own unique ebb and flow. Each team comes armed with scouting reports and game plans, but the outcome is rarely incumbent upon those best laid plans. Game plans require adaptation and counter planning based on every possible variable - score, situation, injury, foul trouble - you name it.

Yet at the core of every game lies the universal variable - shooting the basketball. You can play hard, defend, rebound, and minimize turnovers to the maximum potential, but if the ball doesn’t go through the orange ring frequently enough, then more often than not, you’re going to lose. Such it was this afternoon in the Madison Square Icebox as Illinois clanked and bricked its way across the floor in a 74-61 loss to UConn.

(At least we looked damn good doing it. Those Flying Illini inspired alternate blues were absolutely spectacular.)