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Illinois Basketball: 4 takeaways from the loss to Maryland

By Rees Woodcock

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 06: Basketballs are shown in a ball rack before a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament between the Santa Clara Broncos and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gonzaga won 77-68. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 06: Basketballs are shown in a ball rack before a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament between the Santa Clara Broncos and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gonzaga won 77-68. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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KANSAS CITY, MO – MARCH 09: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Oklahoma State Cowboys reacts from the bench during the quarterfinal game of the Big 12 Basketball Tournament against the Iowa State Cyclones at the Sprint Center on March 9, 2017 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

1. Brad Underwood is not messing around

Yes, Sunday night was depressing. Losing sucks and I want to win more. But, we got to see Brad Underwood in true fashion and let me tell you, it was awesome.

At the start of the game, Illinois went down 10-0 and things were looking bleak. The team was lazy and it seemed like Maryland was just running circles around them. There was no energy from the Illini starters. And then, boom, Underwood decides to pull all of his starters and put in his backup five players.

If you weren’t won over by Underwood before this game – and if you weren’t already you’re crazy – you should be now. This move was great because the Illini starters looked so bad at the start of the Maryland game.

On top of the starters being bad, Underwood isn’t afraid to play the hot players the most minutes no matter how highly recruited you were coming into the program, the main case is Mark Smith.

Smith has only played 24 minutes the last two games and that is because he has been really bad. He is 2-of-7 for a total of five points and he is only 1-of-6 from the three-point line. He hasn’t contributed much else other than that either. His defense isn’t good enough to warrant him playing more minutes right now.

Underwood isn’t here to make friends. He is here to win basketball games and to teach these kids how to get a winning mentality. What I saw last night has me excited for the future.

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