Darrell Hoemann - AP Illini beat Cornell 64-60: That was perhaps the least fun win I have ever seenBy Joe Kutsunis There isn't much to say about this. It was a win yes. It was a win that required Illinois to go on a 9-4 run in the last two minutes. It required Brandon Paul to go into beast mode to win. It required Meyers Leonard to roll out 19 points and 16 rebounds to do it. It required Cornell to score four points in the last 4:30. Illinois beat a .500 Ivy League team at home and nobody involved had any fun at all.
Good point Akon. Because in all fairness, Illinois ended up having to overcome another goose egg of a game from the bench, non starters accounted for zero points in 41 minutes of game time. The Big Red also had a ridiculous game from beyond the arc, sinking 10 of their 22 baskets from three point range. For most of the time the game plan was to either have Meyers Leonard overpower a triple team or turn the ball over (the team had 14 turnovers) The Cornell defense relied on denying the ball to Meyers Leonard and hoping the guards couldn't shoot out of it. The zone gave the Illini problems, but it apparently didn't stop Meyers Leonard from scoring near 20 points and dominating the backboard and D.J. Richardson rolling up 17 points himself. Its just that the offense looked really non-confident and unsure of themselves. Meyers Leonard clearly handled the double, triple, and quadruple teams better, but as one commenter said, if the Illini see anything other than a zone defense the rest of this season it will be a colossal mistake (or they will be facing Bruce Weber in a mirror match) The team is a series of contradictions, a team that runs 12 players deep, but frankly cant score without the starters. A team that has a dominant center but can't win without sinking a ton of threes. A team that drains jumpers against man defense but goes cold from the perimeter against a zone. I can't explain it folks. But I'll see you all in St. Louis. It is going to be one to remember, or to forget, with as much alcohol as is possible.
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