Tag Archives: Demetri McCamey

>Illinois-Purdue

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>Illinois at Purdue

   Once again, this game could be crucial for the Illini’s NCAA hopes.  A win here over a team that has won six straight and is still in the Big Ten title hunt would be HUGE for Illinois’ stock.  After coming up with a win over lowly Iowa, Illinois (18-11, 8-8) is looking to win consecutive games for the first time since winning its first three conference games. The Illini win over Iowa on Saturday, snapped a two-game losing streak.

   Demetri McCamey is finally starting to play like the player all Illini fans were envisioning at the beginning of the year.  After a disappointing stretch, McCamey has been playing much better recently, averaging 16.5 points the last four games. Over the previous six games, he averaged 8.7 points while shooting 29.3 percent.

   The Boilermakers, on the other hand, have been one of the nation’s hottest teams.  In that six-game winning streak, some of their wins have been over this Illini squad, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan State.

    JaJuan Johnson had 20 points, a career-high 17 rebounds and seven blocks in their win over the Spartans.  Johnson’s double-double was his second in four games. He’s averaging 20.4 points and 8.1 rebounds this season.  As he has been all season, E’Twaun Moore has been his sidekick, pouring in nearly 19 ppg. 

   Illinois has lost four straight to Purdue and three of its last four visits to West Lafayette.  Purdue is trying to sweep the season series against the Illini for a second straight year.  Prediction: Sorry Illini fans, Purdue is just too good.  80-70

>Michigan at Illinois

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>Michigan at Illinois (Illinois 9.5 favorite)

This game is huge for these two bubble teams, as they both come in needing to win to help improve their stock for the NCAA Tournament.  Michigan comes in on a hot streak, having won five of their last six games, while the Illini have lost six of their last nine, including Sunday’s game against Purdue, a game they led at halftime by 15.

Unlike other teams fighting for a tournament bid, three of the Wolverines top four players are either freshmen or sophomores.  Guard Darius Morris leads the team in both points and assists with 15.4 and seven.  Tim Hardaway Jr., sun of legend Tim Hardaway, is having quite the debut season, putting up 13 ppg and pulling down four boards. Zack Novak is scoring 9.3 points and a game and leads the team with six boards a game, while Jordan Morgan is getting nine and four.

Illinois needs to straighten up the ship now, because their time is running out.  The main key is getting Demetri McCamey interested in playing basketball again.  He seems to disappear in games and that’s not what a team is looking for from its senior.  Some good things for the Illini is that Brandon Paul, Jereme Richmond, Meyers Leonard and D.J. Richardson are now playing better and the future does look bright.  After scoring in double digits only five times in the teams’ first 17 games, Paul has now exploded by scoring in double digits in five of the last eight games, including three 20+ point outings.  Prediction: Michigan pulls out a 78-75 road win

>Illinois Preview

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>To say that the University of Illinois’ Men’s Basketball team has been under some major scrutiny since its title game appearance would be putting things nicely.  Bruce Weber has been criticized for not winning an NCAA Tournament game since 2006 or poor recruiting (which has drastically changed in the past two years), fans have been unkind to Coach Weber.  Until this year that is.  Pretty much the entire team returns for the 2010-2011 season and Weber adds a trio of recruits who will see major playing time.

Backcourt: The leader of the backcourt, and the entire team, is returning first-team All-Big Ten point guard Demetri McCamey.  McCamey led the nation in assists per game, averaging 7.1 dimes per contest.  He will lead what is a very young backcourt, one that features two sophomores, two freshmen and a redshirt freshmen.  Luckily for the Illini, the two sophomores, D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul, both saw extensive action last season.  Richardson was named co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Paul can play numerous positions, ranging from the point to apparently the power forward position, Weber said.  He played with one of the lower-level USA Basketball teams this summer and will look to improve on his 7.8 ppg and 3.1 rpg averages from a year ago.  Richardson averaged 10.5 ppg last season.

Weber’s two incoming freshman include a younger brother of one of the 2005 stars as well as a McDonald’s All-American.  Crandall Head, Luther’s brother, is coming off of a knee injury, but if he is at full strength, and it has been reported he is, he should play a big role for the team.  Jereme Richardson, the McDonald’s AA is possibly the biggest recruit Weber has had.  He got his commitment after Richmond played his first game of high school.

Frontcourt:  As deep as the Illini are in the backcourt, they are just as much so in the frontcourt.  The team returns multiple starters and others who have seen tons of playing time.  Mike Davis returns at one forward after leading the Big Ten in rebounding with 9.2 per contest.  He will be pushed by sophomore Tyler Griffey, who came on strong at the end of last season.  Because of the depth, Bill Cole, a team captain, might see him role reduced.  Mike Tisdale returns at the center position after averaginf 12 ppg and six rpg.  But he will be pushed by freshman Meyers Leonard, a seven-foot blue-chip recruit, who has great handles, hops and runs the floor well for a big man.

Schedule:  The team is going to be quite tested by the time conference play rolls around.  They start the season in the Coaches vs Cancer Classic, where the potential final four teams could feature the Illini, Texas, Maryland and Pittsburgh.  They also host North Carolina in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.  They travel to Seattle to play Gonzaga and play Missouri in the Braggin’ Rights game in St. Louis.  In mid-January, the Illini have a three-game stretch where they travel to Wisconsin and host Michigan State and Ohio State.  A month later, they have back-to-back games at MSU and OSU