What Illinois coach Brad Underwood said about Tennessee after 86-79 loss to Vols

What Illinois coach Brad Underwood said about No. 17 Tennessee after his 20th-ranked Fighting Illini lost 86-79 to the Vols on Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena:

Opening Statement

“Really good college basketball game. High level. It’s so very hard to go on the road and beat a top-10 team. I thought it was a great challenge for our players to have to step up to that challenge. Again, a veteran team that’s so well coached. And Rick is known for his toughness and their defense. And I was really pleased at halftime, to shoot 34%, to be ahead. I thought our defense settled in after the first four or five minutes. It was a unique ballgame. I’m not saying one thing about the officials, but I mean, there’s three fouls in first half and there’s 426 in the second. But just a tale of two halves. 

“Give Tennessee a ton of credit. They whooped our butt on the glass in the second half. And to go win on the road, you have to guard and you have to rebound basketball. And I felt like we didn’t do that. And that’s something that we’ve gotta continue to learn from and grow from. We didn’t get enough rebounding from our perimeter players. Very, very tough night for Marcus (Domask) and Terrance (Shannon Jr.), even though Terrance got a few points. But I thought Quincy (Guerrier) was spectacular. They obviously tried to cross match and were gonna let him shoot. He’s a kid who made 55 3-pointers last year and was fighting a wrist injury and struggled, and he stepped up and made them. And I thought he was spectacular. 

“But Dalton had a really good segment in the second half, and for whatever reason we couldn’t keep him off the line. And (they) got an offensive rebound, three (point field goal), that kind of spurred a 10-0 run, which shifted the game. But a lot of credit to Tennessee. They were great. They’re picked to win the SEC for a reason. They’ve seen a lot of quality teams thus far this year. And my hat’s off to Rick and his team. They’re gonna be right there. Final Four capable.”

Illinois shooting 9-for-36 from the 3-point line, his thoughts on the shot quality against Tennessee’s defense

“Most of them were pretty good. I felt great about what they (shot). I think we were plus-nine from the line in (the first) half. If that’s what you’re gonna give, we got good shooters. I’m great with it. I thought we, um, um, you know, I thought they did a good job of making Marcus and, and TJ’s post ups challenging. Marcus had a tough night, Marcus, everything he made the other night (against FAU) he struggled with (against Tennessee) and he missed. But that’s the game of basketball.

“I thought Coleman (Hawkins) got really good looks. I thought Luke (Goode) got really good looks. Justin Harmon got two wide open, nobody within 30 feet of him. And if you’re going to get open, you gotta make those and you gotta do that. But kind of a unique night from that standpoint. But it’s what the game gave us.”

Illinois not getting stops in the second half, what Tennessee was doing to score

“Well, Dalton (Knecht is) really good. I mean, let’s be real. I mean, he’s gonna play next year in another league. He’s really good. And then he throw (Santiago) Vescovi, the shot he hit flying out of the corner, (Zakai) Zeigler, those are veteran guys. Those are old guys. And it wasn’t anything they did as much as it was just really good players making good shots. And I thought we guarded them pretty well. I thought Dalton hit a couple of tough shots over Terrance and you tip your hat and move and move on. 

“And like I said, I thought the game was just the second chance points on the glass, and us not cleaning up, just fumbling the ball and not being ball tough and some of those things that gave them second opportunities.”

Getting Tennessee in bad matchups in the second half, getting open looks at the 3-point line, if that’s something they saw going into this game or adjusted in the game

“A little bit of both. It was, we were trying to go match-ups. Obviously Rick threw us a little bit of a curve with the cross matching and we were able to hurt him with that in space, with Quincy. But we told our guys they’re gonna dig down and they’re gonna show support. They’re gonna be in the gaps and gonna be ready to shoot it. And so it was kind of our game plan. But again, it was more about we took a lead when we were able to go at some matchups when they got into the bench a little bit. And we were able to really exploit some of the matchups defensively some of the (game).”

Tennessee trying to play faster this season and the Illinois transition defense

“Just, okay. I thought we kept them out. I think Rick’s trying to play a little bit faster. I don’t like the fact we gave up 86 points, but there were so many free throws in the second half that it’s, hard to not put points on the board. But again, I think they’re a team that’s capable of, Josiah is a guy who can shoot it. They space the floor really well. He’s got (Jonas) Aidoo going here a little bit in, the last game and tonight, and then they can play fast, they can play slow, they can play variety of ways. And I think that’s something that will both very, very well for that team in March.”