After losses, you usually get a pretty candid Brad Underwood talking about his Illinois basketball squad.
This wasn’t a pretty game, as Michigan dominated the Illini for much of the contest. It was evident early on that the Wolverines were going to win this game, and Illinois didn’t have an answer.
Underwood was not pleased with what he saw from rebounding to toughness and everything in between. Why would he, though? Illinois lost by 14 points, and it should have been a bigger margin than that.
After the game, Underwood took the mic to lay out his thoughts in the Illinois postgame press conference.
Here are five interesting Brad Underwood quotes from the Illinois basketball presser vs Michigan
- “I thought Morez (Johnson Jr.), in the first half, was the best player on the court. His offensive rebounding, his activity.”
Underwood lost Morez Johnson Jr. to the transfer portal last season after his freshman campaign. You have every right to be scorned, but thankfully, Illinois has a coach who understands the current college landscape.
The fact that Underwood gives Johnson a shoutout in the postgame press conference shows character. He is also right. Johnson dominated the Illini in the first half. We didn’t have an answer for him the entire night. This falls on the shoulders of our big men.
- “I thought the physical punch, the physical fight of the game, they brought it to us more than we brought it to them. That usually means the outcome that is there.”
I think this was one of the most disappointing things about the game against Michigan. Illinois didn’t have a ton of fight in them.
Yaxel Lendeborg and the rest of the Michigan squad were way more physical than the Illini. Keaton Wagler did a good job working through it, but the aggression frazzled the rest of the Illinois program. We can’t have that moving forward.
- “We can’t have a night where Andrej (Stojakovic) doesn’t grab a rebound. Kylan (Boswell) grabs one. Tomi (Tomislav Ivisic) and Z (Zvonimir Ivisic) aren’t even a factor on the glass. We have to own that.)
This was the big eye-opener against Michigan. Illinois is supposed to be one of the best rebounding teams in the country, but we couldn’t pull down the boards on Friday night.
I touched on this in the observations article, but both Ivisic brothers had a combined four rebounds. Underwood also mentions Kylan Boswell, who had a single rebound, which hurts as he is a good rebounder. If Illinois gets beaten in the rebounding department, we usually lose the game.
- “Leadership. Nastiness. Toughness. Kylan Boswell can go do everything Yaxel (Lendeborg) can do. It is my job to get him to do that. We’ve seen that.”
This was probably the most intriguing quote from Underwood in the postgame press conference. He calls out the upperclassmen.
In a question about what Illinois needs from the upperclassmen, Underwood’s response was to the point and appropriate. The Illini aren’t getting the leadership from these players. The leadership is coming from the freshmen.
- “I don’t have my readers, but look at their field goal percentage, and the second half was just an Aday (Mara) dunkfest. Our whole mindset is to protect the logo and don’t give up layups. A lot of breakdowns on that side. Offensively, we were fine. We played pretty good offensively. Good enough to probably win a game against a team like that, but on the defensive side, that was abysmal.”
Underwood was asked about what happened differently in the second half that enabled Michigan to pull away. He was a little agitated by the question, but his response was blunt and honest.
Michigan shot 60% from the field and 50% from three-point range in the second half. You can’t beat a lot of teams in the country when they shoot like that, let alone arguably the best team in the nation. Illinois’ defense was bad, and it reared its ugly head in the second half.