My Two Cents: Illinois Fans Get Serious Lesson on Post Play The Past Couple of Nights

Indiana's two basketball teams played at Illinois on back-to-back nights, and it made for a great two-day doubleheader on the road. Both Hoosiers teams came home with huge wins, and there was a lot to wrap your arms around on this trip. My notebook-emptying musings.

Tom Brew | Jan 21, 2023

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Indiana Hoosiers

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Some random musings from my two nights in Champaign for the basketball doubleheader, a pair of convincing Indiana victories over Illinois. The No. 6-ranked women won 83-72 on Wednesday night and then the men upset Illinois in convincing fashion, winning 80-65 on Thursday.

The Hoosiers sucked the fun out of the State Farm Center two nights in a row. And that was thoroughly enjoyable.

My rapid-fire thoughts:

I suppose it's true that you can't spell Illinois without two L's. (Wink, wink.)
The little pregame silliness with holding up newspapers during Indiana's starting lineup introduction just isn't the same fun as it used to be. Mostly because college kids — and adults up to about 40 or so — have absolutely no idea what a printed newspaper is anymore.
And major props to Christopher Gunn. He's the father of Indiana freshman guard C.J. Gunn, and he really knows how to have a good time at the games, and on social media. He nailed it perfectly on Thursday night,

And by the way, the Big Ten should do this more often if it would like to see more coverage of the women's game. My Sports Illustrated Indiana travel budget doesn't allow for covering the women's team on the road — we are saving a few dollars for later, though, and we'll be with them throughout the postseason — but by playing on back-to-back nights with the guys, I didn't mind adding a night to the trip over. I'm glad I got to cover both games, and we're still really thankful that our stories on the women's team are getting so much traction this year.
It's our second year of covering them with full-time reporter and video director Haley Jordan, and readership has been great. It's triple what we did last year, and I'm glad I've been able to cover a few games myself (Tennessee, Illinois — so much orange. More on that later). They're fun to watch, and great to chat with.
Is there a school in the country with a better 1-2 punch in the post than Mackenzie Holmes and Trayce Jackson-Davis? They were both spectacular this trip. Mackenzie had 30 points, 10 rebounds and six steals. She was practically unstoppable down low, spinning around defenders in both directions. And Trayce? Wow, what a night. He had 35 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks, the first time a major-conference player had done that in a road game in more than two decades. That's saying something. They both left Illinois fans in awe with their games.

Mackenzie Holmes had 30 points, 10 rebounds and six steals in the win over Illinois on Wednesday. (USA TODAY Sports)

Indiana fans have been great supporting the women's team at home, and more than 10,000 fans attended last week's home win over Maryland. Illinois hasn't been very good at women's basketball lately, but they're the No. 21 ranked team in the country now and had a huge crowd of nearly 6,000 fans on Wednesday night. It was a really good atmosphere for a women's game. When the two teams played there last year, there were just a few hundred fans in the cavernous building. You could tell from the postgame comments from players on both teams that they really enjoyed playing on a big stage like that.
One of the promotions that Illinois does for both men's and women's games is that if an opposing player misses both free throws, the fans get free nuggets from McDonald's. Since both games really weren't close — especially the men's game — the loudest cheers came when nuggets were on the line. They never got them in either game, and they booed Indiana players for making the second free throws after a first miss. Several players had fun with it on social media, including women's stars Sydney Parrish and Mackenzie Holmes.

I didn’t even shoot a free throw last night and every time we got to the line I was stressed we were going to give the fans free nuggets 😂😂😂 #nonuggets
— syd parrish (@sydney_parrish) January 19, 2023

Holmes loved that the men didn't let it happen either on Thursday night. It just added to all the disappointment for Illinois fans this week.

NO NUGGETS 🧹 @IndianaWBB @IndianaMBB
— Mackenzie Holmes (@kenzieholmes_) January 20, 2023

Granted, the whole nuggets thing is a little foolish in the flow of the game. Jeremy Grey, the new voice of the Hoosiers at Assembly Hall, even chimed in. He said he could never do it.

I’m Ron Burgundy and will pretty much read whatever is in front of me and will do the sponsor reads with gusto, but it is in my contract that I will never talk about food products between foul shots.
— Jeremy Gray (@IUJGray) January 20, 2023

I actually like Brad Underwood as a coach, and he's done some good things at Illinois. He started as a small-school guy and worked his way up the ladder. We've had a lot of good hoops chats at media days and such, and he was even kind enough to stop and say hello and shake my hand after Thursday's game. I was really stunned that he thought they could beat Indiana without double-teaming Jackson-Davis more. They basically played him one-on-one all night, and that really backfired. Sure, Illinois missed a lot of free throws, but that game plan was never going to get it done.
Illinois fans love beating Indiana, and they were primed for Thursday night's game, hoping to put a whupping on the Hoosiers. Their cheers cheat sheet even got shared on social media, and a few things sure got Indiana fans upset.

Illinois fans were ready to feast on the Hoosiers with their chants, but with Indiana blowing them out, they never got to any of these chants. — Illinois fans were ready to feast on the Hoosiers with their chants, but with Indiana blowing them out, they never got to any of these chants

Indiana went on a 12-0 run and were up by 17 points in the first half. The outcome was never really in doubt and the State Farm Center was as quiet as I've ever seen it. A lot of fans were heading to the exits with 10 minutes to go in the game, and the Illinois students never had a chance to do any of these chants directed at Indiana players.
They got in a few ''IU sucks'' rumblings, but that was it. No jabs at Trayce, or Miller Kopp, and no, Jordan Geronimo did not give them free nuggets, even though he's a career 52.3 percent free throw shooter. He never went to the line, and he scored 13 points.
Those Illinois kids really wanted to use that ''your fans hate you'' chant after the swill at the bottom of Indiana's fan base went to public attacks on IU players in the past few weeks. But they never got the chance.
On the way down to the court after the game from my press row seat in the last row up against the ceiling, I mentioned to an Illinois student that I was sorry. "For what?'' she asked. ''For having to wear that gawd-awful orange the rest of your life.'' She laughed, and said ''my mom always says the same thing too. If I buy her Illinois gear, it always has to be blue.''
Later Champaign, it was fun.

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