It was an extremely disappointing loss for the Illinois basketball team on Friday.
Wisconsin was down by double-digits in the second half, and the Illini just let them off the hook. Sorry for channeling my inner Dennis Green, but it honestly felt like that.
They are who we thought they were. We let them off the hook.
Brad Underwood took to the postgame press conference to answer questions about the disappointing collapse. Most of the answers were what he says after every game, but there were a few interesting tidbits in there.
Here are five interesting Brad Underwood quotes from the Illinois basketball presser vs Wisconsin
- “You aren’t going to win when you put a team like that to the foul line”
In a way, Underwood is right when he says that Illinois won’t win if Wisconsin goes to the free throw line that many times. Shooting 30 free throws in a game is tough to beat.
But on the same note, Illinois needed to get to the free throw line, too. Our guards weren’t aggressive, and we only shot 15 free throws. The fact that our starters had nine total attempts is unacceptable.
- “We had a nice 15-point lead in the second half, and then we got complacent.”
This happens way too frequently with the Illinois basketball program. We look good at times, get out to a big lead, and then the team starts putting the game in cruise control.
I blame a lot of this on our upperclassmen. Someone like Kylan Boswell has to be the one to keep Illinois focused, and I would argue he is one of the main culprits in the complacency.
- “I am not worried about the offense, I am worried about what it does on the other end. We have the No. 1 offense in college basketball.”
I don’t mean to sound old here, but man, I would worry about the Illinois offense a little bit. Underwood blames the defense, but I can’t put a lot of blame on the defense that gave up 42% from the field and 24% from three-point range to Wisconsin.
Illinois’ offense was stagnant a lot in the second half. We didn’t get going to the hoop, and long misses led to runouts by the Badgers. The bad Illini offense leads to bad Illinois defense because Wisconsin gets in the transition game. I don’t understand this mentality by Underwood.
- “If you get outrebounded, you go home.”
This was a simple statement, but it is also a very true one. When Illinois gets outrebounded, we lose games. This program is 1-4 this season when being outrebounded.
In the press conference, Underwood mentions Illinois’ guards needing to rebound better. How about this: maybe our 7-foot-1 starting center should rebound the basketball better? Tomislav Ivisic had two rebounds in 24 minutes. He is 7-foot-1. He has had three double-digit rebounding games this season. It is a wild stat.
- “We are really good. We are a possession away from being one of the best teams record-wise in the country. I still think we are one of the best teams in the country.”
I understand Underwood saying that Illinois is one of the best teams in the country. We are a possession away from winning a lot of games. But here is the thing: this is a trend.
There is a reason Illinois keeps losing these close games. We don’t have leadership. The upperclassmen who should be leaders and get us over the hump can’t do it. They don’t have the moxie to be able to lead Illinois to the promised land.