It was a disappointing loss for the Illinois basketball team on Wednesday night.
All Illini fans wanted this program to go undefeated, but that didn’t even happen to the greatest Illinois team of all time. Still, the Orange and Blue fought tough against one of the best teams we will see this season.
After the game, Brad Underwood talked to the media about what he saw and the progression this team is making. There were some quotes that piqued my interest from the postgame press conference, too.
Here are five interesting Brad Underwood quotes from the Illinois basketball presser vs Alabama
- “They won the game at the start of the second half”
Illinois was keeping up with Alabama shot-for-shot heading into halftime. We had the lead 42-41 to start the second half. That is when the wheels fell off a bit.
The Crimson Tide started the second half on an 11-5 run to gain control of the game. The momentum completely changed at this point. A solid start in the second half could have gotten Illinois on the right track to snag this victory. Underwood will hopefully make some adjustments moving forward.
- “When you play a top 10 team, you sure as heck can’t go 9-for-17 in a half from the free throw line.”
Underwood is right on the money. The reason Illinois fell to Alabama was the free throw shooting. Even with the slow second half start, the Illini could have recovered if we had hit our free throws.
For the game, Illinois was 13-of-22 from the charity stripe. That is going to get you in trouble in a lot of games this season. That 59% needs to be in the 70% range.
- “We need Tomi (Tomislav Ivisic). We need his passing, we need his facilitating, we need his brains. It shows the most on the defensive side, to be honest with you.”
Illinois had Tomislav Ivisic dip his toe back into the playing water. It wasn’t pretty at first, having a quick turnover and not looking great.
Ivisic got into somewhat of a groove. He was not in game shape, though. Underwood mentions this in the press conference. Ivisic hasn’t played or practiced a lot lately, and it showed on Wednesday night. As time goes on, he should be back playing more minutes and in the starting lineup.
- “We have to get Bam (Kylan Boswell) in an aggressive mindset driving the ball much earlier than what he does. When we get stagnant, and we get switches…he’s got to get downhill. He did that late, and that is the aggression we need from him the first 34 minutes.”
I have said this many times: an aggressive Boswell is the best Boswell. Life is way more fun as Steph Curry, but there aren’t many players who can make a living just hitting from outside. Getting in the paint and getting dirty has been a go-to for many NBA players.
Honestly, and I have said this before, Boswell reminds me a lot of Deron Williams. A nice big body who can shoot from the perimeter but does his best work driving the lane. If Illinois can get an aggressive Boswell from start to finish, we could go pretty far this season.
- “Mihailo, I thought, was outstanding. First game, and let it be against maybe the best backcourt in the country. And that speed. In this environment, my hats off to him.”
It was fun seeing Mihailo Petrovic on the court on Wednesday night. I thought it was brave of Underwood to throw him into action against one of the best teams in the country.
Petrovic did pretty well, all things considered. He finished with three points and five assists. I am excited to see him get into game shape and lead this Illinois backcourt. Things are starting to come together, and Underwood can see it happening.