Illinois Basketball: 4 big statistics from the Illini win over Iowa

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Jan 19, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (R) reacts while embracing head coach Brad Underwood during the first half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /

2. 5-8

Illinois basketball has had a resurgence under the coaching of Brad Underwood. On the recruiting trail and in the win-loss column, things seem to be going pretty well with this coaching regime.

The win on Friday night against No. 7 Iowa gave the Illini a top 10 victory. These wins don’t come easy because they are against a team that people believe is one of the top 10 programs in the country. Well, over the past four years at Illinois, Underwood seems to be winning these games at a decent clip.

Underwood is now 5-8 at Illinois when playing top 10 programs.

On paper, 5-8 doesn’t seem like a great record, but you have to think this is a record against the best of the best. Underwood had two seasons where the Illini weren’t good too. They had a combined 26 wins in his first two years, but he still managed to get this program to a 5-8 record against top 10 teams.

Let’s compared it to the coaching regime before Underwood took over. Under John Groce, Illinois was a bad team when they played top 10 programs. In fact, in the five seasons Groce coached the Illini, he had a combined record of 3-14 versus top 10 teams.

So, in not even four full years of coaching Illinois, Underwood already has more top 10 wins than Groce did in his five years with the Illini. That is an incredible feat. Illinois seems to be in good hands with Underwood. The trajectory is toward the moon.

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