Illinois basketball went to UCLA and ended up having one of the more disappointing losses in recent memory.
The Illini had control of this game early on, but the Bruins weren’t going down easily. They fought back, and Illinois didn’t have an answer for a scrappy UCLA bunch.
Brad Underwood took to the mic after the game to talk to the media. He seemed pretty calm about the loss and expressed his disappointment in a few areas in the postgame press conference.
Here are five interesting Brad Underwood quotes from the Illinois basketball presser vs UCLA
- “I felt we got very lackadaisical on the defensive side.”
Underwood touched on the biggest takeaway from the loss to UCLA. Illinois’ defense has to be better, or we aren’t going to go far in March.
Illinois gave up 86 points in regulation. We let so many UCLA players drive by us for easy buckets. This type of defense can’t continue. Underwood seemed mad at the Illinois defensive effort, and I don’t envy what is about to take place in practice this week.
- “Mirk (David Mirkovic) had a really tough night…the foul at the end of the first half was just a freshman blunder. You can’t do that.”
David Mirkovic had one of his worst games as a member of the Illinois basketball team on Saturday night. He had a hard time with what the Bruins were throwing at him.
Clearly, Underwood has the foul at the end of the first half at the front of his mind. This was a bad foul where UCLA got three free throws to end the first 20 minutes of action. As a result, the Bruins were only down seven points instead of 10 points entering halftime. It was a big moment in the game.
- “Dre (Andrej Stojakovic) was right there, and all we were trying to do was force him to veer or pass. And he just got by us…letting him get all the way to the rim was not on the game plan.”
The final play of the game was one of the most disappointing defensive efforts I have seen from the Illini. We didn’t stop the ball, and UCLA got an easy layup to win the game.
Underwood touched on what was supposed to happen. Illinois’ players were supposed to stop the ball and make UCLA pass it out. Instead, Andrej Stojakovic just let him go by, and Zvonimir Ivisic, for some reason, jumped up in the air instead of staying on the ground and defending. It was horrible defensive execution.
- “I don’t know much about Keaton (Wagler) other than he said he is going to have a sore shoulder. Boswell (Kylan) got stitched up.”
There were a couple of injuries for Illinois against UCLA. The biggest scare was halfway through the first half when Keaton Wagler landed on his shoulder and went back to the locker room. It sounds like he is just sore.
Later on in the game, Kylan Boswell turned to his right to go baseline, but there was a UCLA defender there trying to steal the ball. They smashed faces into each other. It sounds like he is alright after some stitches. Those two are crucial in the stretch run.
- “You look at all of our losses, other than UConn. You make free throws at Alabama, we are fourth in the country in free throw shooting. You do that, you win. You get a defensive rebound at Michigan State. You can go right on down the list. Being without two guys against Wisconsin. We are right there. We are as good as anybody in the country.”
Underwood isn’t wrong. Illinois is one of the best teams in the country, and we could easily have just one loss on the schedule right now.
There have been so many close games this season where one thing turned the game for good or bad. Illinois has had plenty of chances to secure wins, but we just can’t do the right thing at times. That has to change as we turn the calendar to March here in a week.