Illinois head coach Brad Underwood and freshman Keaton Wagler met with local media ahead of tomorrow’s road game in Evanston.
Handling adversity on the road
The Illini managed to hold on to a late lead to earn a massive road win at Iowa on Sunday. Underwood was proud of his team’s composure late in the game.
“Really poised under duress,” Underwood said. “We hadn’t seen that kind of animosity from a crowd. Stress, things not going our way…and this team handled that very well. Felt good about that. Lot of things to learn from in that game.”
Illinois nearly blew a 17-point second half lead, but the duo of Kylan Boswell and Keaton Wagler kept the team afloat by scoring its final 20 points.
“What I’ve learned from these past games is to just stay composed,” said Wagler. “Teams are gonna go on runs, but if we stay together then we can get the win.”
Welcoming Toni Bilic to Champaign
It sounds like Illinois’ newest European player is finally making his way to campus.
“He’ll be here today or tomorrow,” said Underwood. “He’s finally gotten his visa. It was all about handling his appointment over there and getting all that settled. It took a little longer than we had hoped, but yeah he should be here in the 24 hours.”
Bilic, a 6’8 forward from Croatia, will not appear in any games for the Illini this season, instead focusing on his development.
Underwood said the sole focus for Bilic will be to “get better” no matter what that looks like.
Facing Nick Martinelli and the ‘Cats
Northwestern senior Nick Martinelli is the nation’s leading scorer at an astounding 24.1 points per game. He’s shooting 58.1% from the floor and 52.6% from beyond the arc in what Brad Underwood called “one of the great, great years in college basketball.”
“Leading the country in scoring,” noted Underwood. “His shooting is off the chart. He does it in a lot of ways…They’ve been playing him some small ball five. They’re playing through one of the best players in the country a lot. His usage is very high. He elevates others. You gotta make his shots hard. You can’t give him the easy ones.”
Despite having the best scorer in the nation, Northwestern sits at just 8-8 and 0-5 in Big Ten play. Illinois is looking for their first road win over the Wildcats since 2022.
