Can Illinois basketball “grow up” quickly in February?

In what should have been a “keep the ball rolling” game for Brad Underwood’s crew, Illinois Basketball unraveled on the road vs Nebraska, as crucial turnovers and ice-cold shooting paved the way for a heartbreaking 80-74 overtime loss.

Numbers don’t lie, and they certainly aren’t pretty from this one. Illinois coughed up a costly 17 turnovers, and shot a frigid 35.6% from the field, in addition to a dismal 23.8% (10 for 41) from behind the arc. As Coach Underwood put it, “You’re not gonna beat anybody doing that.” That is, it’s highly unlikely—especially in the Big Ten, with the Illini missing a key piece in their frontcourt. (Tomislav Ivisic – Out indefinitely, Mono )

Following the overtime defeat, Underwood met with the press to discuss his brutally honest thoughts on the loss, and some keys as to what Illinois Basketball must do to recover moving forward into a critical month of February.

WATCH: Credit – Illini Athletics on YouTube

Underwood’s Initial Thoughts On the Loss

“Give Nebraska a lot of credit, I thought that they had the best player on the court today and it wasn’t even close in Brice (Williams – 27 points, 4 assists, 8 rebounds). For the most part, you can’t turn it over. I write on the board every game, “10 turnovers or less”. You cannot turn it over on the road. We repeatedly made scouting report mistakes tonight that we haven’t made,” Stated Underwood.

He goes on to say, “They played great, we fought back. Our bench was terrific—I thought Tre White was outstanding with 13 rebounds. Without Tomi, we’re really thin up front, and he picks up two fouls in two minutes. So, we kind of had to sloth our way through the first half with some really different lineups. But, give them credit.”

Underwood on Illinois Offense

When asked by Illini Inquirer’s Derek Piper about the results of low numbers of assists, and high isolation play, Underwood was right to the point. The Illini coach stated, “It stunk. It was terrible. But, that’s part part of the problem with not having Tomi. That’s one of the things that we have to figure out, cause I have no idea when we get him back.”

Underwood continued, “But, they do a good job. There’s a reason they’ve beaten Purdue, as much as they’ve beaten Purdue. They do a great job with their low holds, taking away post-ups, and when we did try to throw it to Morez on rolls, the results weren’t great.”

“Grow Up” –  Turnovers Pile Up For Illinois Basketball

In response to the Illini’s brutal turnover count (17), Underwood stated, “Tonight they are scouting report (Turnovers). Grow Up…. Grow up. I don’t know, I mean, I would like to have an explanation. We had 4 scouting report ones I know, where we told our guys “you’re not gonna throw the baseline pass, and we continually tried to do that. But, I don’t know, tonight was very uncharacteristic of us, from a scouting report standpoint, making those turnovers. But…. You’re not going to beat anybody doing that.”

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