Illinois Basketball: Top 5 Illini wins in the Brad Underwood era

ANN ARBOR, MI - JANUARY 25: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood smiles as he talks to his team in a huddle during a timeout during a regular season Big Ten Conference game between the Illinois Fighting Illini (21) and the Michigan Wolverines on January 25, 2020, at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Illinois defeated Michigan 64-62. (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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CHAMPAIGN, IL – MARCH 01: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Illinois Fighting Illini salutes the fans following the game against the Indiana Hoosiers at State Farm Center on March 1, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

The start of the Brad Underwood era for the Illinois basketball program was a struggle.

Back-to-back sub-500 campaigns really left a bad taste in the mouth of most Illinois fans. But the promise of future success was always there. Underwood was recruiting well and the team saw glimpses of success.

Building on confidence and showing the world that this team could win big games was important. Illinois hadn’t been an NCAA tournament team in years, so finding a way to develop into a program that knows how to win was important.

While the Illini didn’t win at a high clip in the first two years under Underwood, there were some decent wins in that span. Illinois also saw great success this past season, finally making it back to the NCAA tournament only to have it canceled by a worldwide pandemic.

Throughout all of these campaigns, you can point to a couple of handfuls of games that helped build the Illinois program into what we see today. These big games molded the talented players we have on the team and enabled them to build on their success. But there are five games that were game-changers for the direction of this program in my eyes.

Here are the top five Illini wins in the Brad Underwood era.

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