After going through a rough stretch to conclude the regular season, it appears that Illinois basketball is back to playing its game. Head coach Brad Underwood and the Illini gave a quality showing against a hungry Xavier team on Friday, concluding a historic NCAA Tournament feat for the Big Ten.
Underwood fielded questions after the 86-73 victory, touching on the diversity and overall camaraderie from his roster. How that factors in to his team’s culture is quite simple.
“It’s been much easier,” Underwood said, per CJ Fogler on X, formerly Twitter. “Other than probably those guys cussing at me in their foreign language and I don’t know what they’re saying.”
The 12-year head coach is referring to Illinois’ key players who have helped fuel this March run. It resembles more of a professional team, rather than your typical NCAA roster – consisting of guard Will Riley (Canada), Tomislav Ivisic (Croatia), Kasparas Jakucionis (Lithunia), Tre White (Dallas, Texas) and Kylan Boswell (Champaign, Illinois).
Illinois basketball’s NCAA Tournament outlook
Illinois will have a tougher task against Kentucky in Round 2 of the East region. Underwood is hoping that his squad can maintain the same vigor against one of the top SEC threats in the tournament.
‘This group loves basketball,” Underwood said. “They love to compete, and this group rivals our group last year in terms of liking or caring for each other in the locker room. It’s genuinely a group that’s happy when somebody does something great, and that’s really hard to find.”
The first round of the Big Dance is always where teams find their identity. Illinois knows. Xavier posed a potential threat coming off a play-in victory over Texas, but the Illini answered with an impressive statement. It’ll be interesting to see how the chemistry looks on Sunday, against a Wildcats team that is definitely more their speed.
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