Brad Underwood's response to Kylan Boswell's technical shows his postseason mindset

The postseason had finally arrived for the Illinois Fighting Illini, and they were taking the court against the Wisconsin Badgers in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Just 29 seconds into the game, Illinois senior Kylan Boswell was given a technical foul for getting in the face of Wisconsin's Nick Boyd. After getting the tech, Boswell's head coach, Brad Underwood, was seen applauding his veteran player's effort.

That is the energy the Fighting Illini need this postseason, and Underwood is bringing it.

Fighting Illini's tournament energy is feeding families

As both sides of the court brought the firepower and played aggressively through the first few minutes of the game, Boswell picked up a second foul, and Underwood had to begrudgingly take him out of the game.

However, just a few minutes later, he sent Boswell back onto the court, proving he was willing to play his team as aggressively as necessary to succeed in the conference tournament.

The Fighting Illini maintained a small lead throughout the first half, building it to as many as 10 points before the Badgers went on a slight run of their own. With just under two minutes until halftime, Illinois held a three-point lead over Wisconsin, and Boswell already had three points and three rebounds.

Leading the Illini was unsurprisingly star freshman Keaton Wagler, who had nine points and three assists before the buzzer sounded. However, the most impressive performance was from Andrej Stojakovic, who came off the bench to put up 12 points, five rebounds, one block, and one steal.

As the two teams headed to their locker room at halftime, Illinois had built the lead back up and had the Badgers trailing 36-60.

The winner would move on to the semifinal of the conference Tournament, where they would face the No. 1-seed Michigan Wolverines for a spot in the Big Ten Championship game.