Illinois was on the doorstep of a No. 1 seed at the NCAA Tournament. A win against AP No. 3 Michigan would have put them firmly in the hunt. Instead, in a major anticlimax, the Fighting Illini were whooped 84-70. They trailed by as many as 21 in the second half, with the Wolverines dominating throughout to win the Big Ten title. After the game, Brad Underwood laid bare the reality regarding his team.

When asked what this team needs, Underwood gave three words: “Leadership, nastiness, and toughness,” he told the media. “We’ve got to get back to the post-Nebraska mindset on the defensive side. Just getting gritty and nasty.” Michigan completely elbowed out Illinois.

On the boards, the Wolverines won 34-30 despite Illinois matching Michigan’s size. Underwood’s side couldn’t stop Michigan from scoring in the paint either. The Wolverines got around the rim at will, scoring half of their total points in the paint compared to just 32 from Illinois. According to Underwood, Michigan exploited the lack of “nastiness.”

“This group wants to win. They care a lot, and so that’s not going to be a problem,” Underwood further said. “But the lesson was learned, and they took their belt off and beat our behinds with it. If you like that too much, then you should probably go to the rec center and play.”

Clearly, Underwood is not happy. Being dominated physically and mentally is far from ideal. All three of the Wolverines’ big men scored heavily. Yaxel Lendeborg had 19 points, six rebounds, and four assists; Morez Johnson Jr. recorded a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double; and Aday Mara chipped in with 19 points and five rebounds. For Illinois it was Keaton Wagler with a 23 point performance, along with Kylian Boswell’s 15 and David Mirkovic’s 12. 

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According to Underwood, a little more effort from his side could have flipped those stat lines. However, he took responsibility for the complacency. “That’s on me,” he said. “Look no further than the guy sitting up here for letting that happen. It always catches you at some point and smacks you in the face. You don’t feel very good, and I don’t like saying that about my team very often, but they played harder than we did. They played nastier than we did tonight.”

In a way, this could prove to be a positive wake-up call. They have two games left in the regular season, one against Oregon and one away at Maryland, where they can regain their poise. Despite this loss, the mood in Illinois isn’t changing, as Underwood still believes they can challenge for the national championship.

Brad Underwood Sets Championship Aspirations Ahead of March

With a 22-7 record, Illinois is still in a strong position to secure a favorable seed in the NCAA Tournament despite this loss. They currently stand at No. 5 in the NET rankings. Yes, a win could have done wonders for those numbers, but it’s not the end of the world to lose to a genuine title contender. Underwood is not dampening his hopes of making a title run and believes his team can get there with minor improvements.

“Our goals never change. It’s to win a national championship, and we’re plenty good enough to do that. We weren’t tonight, but we’ve done that in a lot of games. We had a 12-game win streak, and it’d be nice to get back and win 11 now—or 12, whatever the number is,” Underwood said. “I just think it’s a matter of consistency and refining a few things. We’ve done it multiple times this year, and we’ll do it again as we move forward.”

Illinois is the best offensive team in the country on KenPom with an offensive rating of 132.4. As in this game, it is their defense that Underwood needs to tweak. Their defensive rating currently stands at 99.4, which ranks 33rd in the nation. More specifically, they struggle to force turnovers, doing so on just 11.7% of opponent possessions. If they can improve that number with more intensity and “nastiness,” Brad Underwood and Co. are more than capable of reaching the title game.