CHICAGO — Say what you want about the officiating in Friday afternoon’s quarterfinal battle between No. 5 Wisconsin and No. 4 Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament.
But I think we can all agree it was a little much, as the Badgers pulled out the 91-88 win in overtime.
Illinois head coach Brad Underwood put part of the blame on his team’s defense.
“For a team that leads the country in fewest fouls committed, when you berate somebody at the line and have a discrepancy like that, you’re not going to win,”
Underwood said.
While never calling out the officials in his postgame press conference on Friday, Underwood pointed to the disparity in foul shots between the two teams, especially in the second half and overtime.
“[The Badgers] shot 2 [free throws] in the first half, then 18, and 10,” Underwood said. “We’re a team that draws a lot of fouls, and we weren’t even close to that. You’re not going to win when you put a team at the foul line. [Nick] Boyd was terrific, getting to the foul line 13 times.”
Again, he watched his words and didn’t call out the officials, which I don’t think we’re going to hear him do. However, it was a little ridiculous:
- Wisconsin: 25-30
- Illinois 9-15
We can all agree that Illinois should have made more shots down the stretch, and Boyd and John Blackwell were excellent.
But some of the fouls leave something to be desired:
