It wasn’t much of a game on Monday night, as the Illinois basketball team dominated Missouri.
This was the annual Braggin’ Rights game, and only one team showed up to play. The Illini pounced on the Tigers midway through the first half and never let up.
It was a thorough butt-kicking by Illinois, which resulted in a 91-48 win for the Orange and Blue. After the game, Brad Underwood had some good quotes from the postgame press conference.
Here are five interesting Brad Underwood quotes from the Illinois basketball presser vs Missouri
- “I’ve said it many times, and I don’t want it to sound like an excuse, but we needed practice.”
Earlier in the season, when Illinois had a chance to practice more, there were numerous players out with injuries. The meat of the non-conference hit, and those players started to get healthy. Finally, the team had a chance to practice over the past couple of weeks.
Underwood touched on that with this quote. It had been nine full days since the Illini had their last contest, and the work done in that stretch really paid off to the tune of a 43-point win.
- “Not one guy is going to stop him (Mark Mitchell). I thought we were very active in our gaps with him. I thought we did a really good job of not letting him get easy ones on the offensive glass.”
Mark Mitchell is a really good player, and Illinois got to experience that last season. He dropped 18 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block on 6-of-12 shooting from the field last season.
Shutting him down was obviously a priority for the Illini. We didn’t let him get going, as he only had five points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field. I’ll take that over a 27-minute span from Missouri’s best player.
- “He’s (Keaton Wagler) is fun to coach. I get on him in practice and ride him, and he’s stoic. He’s got an emotional balance that is very mature…I think he is starting to see confidence coming from his teammates towards him.”
I think we are all enamored by the play of Keaton Wagler. A true freshman is out there and is arguably Illinois’ best player. In every press conference, Underwood is asked about Wagler and his thoughts on the kid.
I have noticed what Underwood is saying in this quote. Wagler seems pretty even with his emotions. He doesn’t get too high or low. He is a cold-blooded killer, and I am here for every second of it.
- “I was ready to go double big if I needed to.”
This was an interesting quote from Underwood. Coming into the Missouri game, they had a ton of size. Their guards were over 6-foot-6, and they had a couple of solid big men who were around 7-foot.
Underwood said he was ready to go double big. That means we were going to see both Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic on the court at the same time. Honestly, I would love to see that more. At the end of the day, how nice a luxury is it to have that possibility?
- “45 years of non-traditional, non-league rivalry. We’ve lost a little bit because the players don’t stay for three or four years like they used to…the portal has changed that. We emphasize it. Our fans let our players know…I think it speaks to how competitive our group is. Kylan Boswell has been talking all week about this game.”
A lot has changed in college sports. Coaches come and go, and players rotate in and out even quicker. But one thing has stayed the same, and that is the Braggin’ Rights game.
It is nice for Underwood to touch on that in his postgame press conference. He feels the gravitas of this rivalry, and his comments about it are spot on. I am glad a player like Kylan Boswell can help convey the meaning of this game to his teammates who are new to the matchup. That is called leadership.