Brad Underwood talks Illinois' win over Houston to advance to Elite Eight
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What were the highlights of Illinois' win over Houston?
The Fighting Illini have got it. They have knocked off the Cougars on their own home turf here in Houston. Illinois marching on to the Elite Eight. They have defeated the Cougars 65-55 and move on for a Saturday night Elite Eight day with the Iowa Hawkeyes. I like to win. Yes, you do. So I'm going to try to figure out how to best utilize all these guys. We got positional size and shooting. These guys are excellent. We came here to win two. We've only got one. I'm proud as heck of them.
He has every right to be. We go to our hotline here on Rahimi Harris and Brody for the second time in three years. The Illini men's basketball team has made it to the Elite Eight. And joining us is their head coach, Brad Underwood from Houston. Coach, congratulations on another Elite Eight team.
No, I appreciate it. Thank you very much. It's a good place to be right now.
Absolutely. We're happy to have you. And one of the things that stood out to me about this game wasn't just the way you took down such a strong team in Houston on essentially a home court for them at Toyota Center. But it was it was what you just mentioned in the postgame interview. We heard you talk to Lauren Shahadi of our TNT crew, and it was the positional size, how you guys have been able to use that. If a team isn't shooting great, the offensive rebounds have been there. Once again, they were key in this game. What do you think of just the way your team has created secondary scoring options to be able to get this done?
Well, you look at Keaton Wagler, Keaton 6'6", plays on the ball for us, point guard. Usually most nights has a size advantage. We don't just have big guys up front with our seven-footers, but it's Andre Stojakovic's 6'7". Kylan plays bigger than he is. He's 230 pounds. He's, you know, he's very strong. And, you know, Ben Humerkals, Jake Davis are both guys with perimeter size. So, you know, last night Keaton Wadler, 12 rebounds. And, you know, took advantage of the opportunities that were there. We needed every rebound from him. But, yeah, positional size is something we recruit, and it's nice to have and something that was very beneficial for us.
You've got Keaton Wagler, who is an All-American, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. I'm just curious, because I heard you talking a little bit about it, about Tyler Underwood and this cognitive testing that you guys do, which helps you understand what these guys can do on the court. What do you know about this? I know you said this is more of a younger person's approach to basketball, but what have you learned about this process and the way his ability from an IQ standpoint helps get things done on the court for your team?
Well, it's become a huge piece of what we're looking at, especially by certain positions. And, you know, decision-making and instinct is, uh, you know, when, when guys can process things on the fly, uh, they don't have to see it rep after rep after rep in a practice to understand it, um, you know, and, and, and make decisions and, you know, decision-making is, um, a huge piece of the game, especially, uh, in tight quarters below the free throw line. And no, it's something Keaton just excels at. He's a, he's a He doesn't get sped up. He's a very good decision maker there. And, you know, finding out that stuff in the recruiting process is something that we're into 100%. And I've learned a lot about it.
It's something I didn't know. That's been fun and exciting as well as creating opportunities for an opportunity to learn something new. I've tried to never stop learning something new, but it's a big part of what we're doing.
Well, I think too, Coach, the court vision is there in such a way where you're seeing it adapt. And I know that we're not supposed to get continuously in awe of freshmen, but it really does seem like at times these guys, you're seeing them learn in exponential ways before your eyes in the biggest games that matter to them in the tournament, in the career. Is that how it is, just that feeling and the impression of what you're seeing?
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