The Illinois basketball team was able to take down the No. 11 team in the country on Tuesday.
This was one of the bigger wins in recent memory for the Illini. In years past, it seemed like Illinois would come close but fall short against teams like Texas Tech. Now, we are winning these contests and looking good while doing so.
Having such a big win shorthanded is exciting. Illinois will eventually get to full strength, and then what will we look like? Brad Underwood touched on the Illini’s health and what he saw on the court in his postgame press conference.
Here are five interesting Brad Underwood quotes from the Illinois basketball presser vs Texas Tech
- “They (Texas Tech) went really small in the second half.”
Underwood had some clear adjustments in the game against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders didn’t have much size, and when it was realized that going smaller would work, Underwood implemented this strategy.
Jason Jakstys got in the game for three minutes extremely early in the game, but he was pulled quickly. Zvonimir Ivisic only logged 24 minutes in the game, and it wasn’t due to bad play. Illinois just needed smaller, quicker players to help guard, especially on screens. This was a great move by the coaching staff.
- “He’s (Kylan Boswell) our leader, we follow him…he’s our guy.”
There is a ton of basketball knowledge on the court for Illinois right now. You have a handful of players who have either college experience or playing time professionally overseas. It was always a question entering the year about who was going to be the leader on the court.
Underwood clearly thinks that the leader is Kylan Boswell. So far through three games, the leader has been Boswell. He hasn’t been passive, and his ability to control games is phenomenal. Instilling this confidence into Boswell will go a long way in Illinois’ success this season.
- “I’m very, very pleased, and probably surprised, just the connectivity. He (Andrej Stojakovic) makes a big-time steal. We came out of a timeout and switched a ball screen, and Anderson threw it to him. And he comes over the top and makes a nice steal. That’s something he hasn’t practiced…It’s nice to have that.”
There are always ups and downs with the transfer portal. Having the ability to go out and get a player to come to your program who has natural ability and high basketball IQ is one of the great things about the transfer portal.
Andrej Stojakovic is one of those players. Underwood raved about Stojakovic in the postgame press conference. He specifically pointed out one defensive series where Stojakovic hadn’t even practiced the defensive set and still managed to make a great steal just because of his knowledge of the game. That great knowledge will only continue to grow as time goes on.
- “Well, five of them are from Europe, and they all know each other. I think that helps. We got really good guys. We’ve got really, really good people. They care about each other. They care about what’s important.”
One of the questions in the postgame press conference was about Illinois’ team chemistry and how it got there so quickly. Underwood, in a joking manner, started with the fact that the Illini have five Europeans, and they all know each other.
While that was joking, it is also true. Illinois has chemistry because the styles are fairly the same, and they know a lot about each other. Having the leadership of Boswell is huge, too. Underwood also touches on the fact that the players are good people and they care about what is important. This is a team full of we-guys and not me-guys.
- “Yeah, he’s (Mihailo Petrovic) is getting closer, and it was important he get the feel of warmups and the pregame routine because it was the first time he’s done that. He was a partial participant yesterday (Monday) in practice, which is a good sign.”
The crazy part about the Illinois run this early in the season is that we aren’t close to being fully healthy. There are three big-time players still on the mend, and Mihailo Petrovic is close to being back on the court.
Underwood updated Illinois fans on the status of Petrovic. It sounds like he is close to taking the court, and that is exciting. I am curious how they ease him into action, and the effect this could have on the Illini lineup.