Brad Underwood didn’t hide from the biggest issues after No. 3 Illinois came up short at No.
16 Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The Illini erased a 20-point halftime deficit with a strong second half in Lubbock, Texas, but the Red Raiders still escaped with an 84-78 win.
For Underwood, the story of the night came down to the same two things over and over: rebounding and free throws.
“Really looked very similar to our Baylor exhibition,” Underwood said. “We have got to make winning plays.
And part of making winning plays is rebounding the basketball. And we weren’t very good at that tonight.
Ethan [Brown] and Zavier [Zens] were our leading defensive rebounders.
“We talked about it a lot for two days. … And then, obviously, being tough enough to make free throws. I don’t know in my lifetime if I’ve ever had a team go 8-for-20 from the free-throw line.”
Illinois was beaten badly on the glass despite its size advantage, finishing with a 43-32 rebounding deficit and allowing 18 offensive rebounds. Underwood made it clear that part of that falls on him.
“Again, the game is 18 offensive rebounds to 10,” Underwood said. “Just literally have to rebound the basketball.
And I’m tired of watching us get shoved. I’m tired of giving up rebounds.
I think it’s a one-possession game and they get three shots [ending in a Donovan Atwell three]. We’ve got to be better than that.
So that’s on me. And we’ll continue to work to change that.”
The free-throw numbers were just as ugly, and there wasn’t much in the way of a simple fix. Illinois has shooters, but Underwood’s group may need more time in hostile road settings to get comfortable.
The other major swing in the game came when Illinois cleaned up its ball-screen defense and stopped handing Texas Tech easy points. The first half was a mess of live-ball turnovers, and Underwood said that fed the Red Raiders’ offense.
“Well, one, we were a little more aggressive on the ball,” Underwood said. “And, secondly, we quit making some mistakes in our ball-screen coverage. And then the other part of that was [that we] forced them to play in the halfcourt.
“The first half was just live-ball turnovers, pick sixes, whatever you want to call them, giving them easy baskets. But I thought our defense has been pretty good. And you can’t help your defense when you’re turning it over at the rate we did in the first half.”
Texas Tech scored 15 points off turnovers in the opening half, but the Red Raiders also found success in the halfcourt. Still, Illinois’ defensive energy and its willingness to switch on ball screens helped turn the game into a much different second half.
Underwood also pointed to the way Illinois used Tomislav Ivisic in the pick-and-roll game, even if the execution wasn’t always there.
“I think that Tomi’s very good in that … we thought it was a way to stress their defense,” Underwood said. “They were pretty aggressive on the ball.
Again, [Quentin Coleman] and Ethan and [Stefan Vaaks] - all those guys will get better in those roles and making those reads. We held onto the ball too long.
We missed Tomi probably on four or five pops that I thought he had opportunities to get threes.”
Coleman had a chance to find Ivisic on one possession multiple times, and the Illini guards are still learning those reads. Underwood sounded confident that part of the offense will keep growing.
Ivisic, meanwhile, drew praise from his coach for the way he handled the game beyond the box score.
“His leadership was incredible,” Underwood said of Ivisic. “Tomi has been incredible.
There’s a reason he’s one of the best bigs in the country. He can do it all.
We had some post-up stuff.
“He had one really late that he just missed with his right hand. … But his leadership has been incredible.
And he’s a great talker. He’s a great communicator.
I couldn’t be any more pleased with the way Tomi is playing, because he’s doing a little bit of everything.”
Ivisic finished with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists, and he flashed plenty of skill, including a dribble-drive spin move that led to an and-one. But Illinois still needs more from him on the defensive glass, and Underwood won’t like the four turnovers from a big man either.
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