NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - LOYOLA CHICAGO VS ILLINOIS

March 21, 2021

Brad Underwood

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Illinois Fighting Illini

Postgame Media Conference

Loyola 71, Illinois 58

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Well, tremendous amount of credit goes to Loyola. First 10 minutes of that game they got us on our heels. We never really recovered. We had stretches, but they just rocked us, and again, we missed some easy opportunities. We're not going to win many games when Trent is 1-for-10 and Ayo had a tough night.

But again, I don't want to detract anything from Loyola. They made it very tough for us to run stuff. We got out-rebounded. We got out-fought. That's a good basketball team. Krutwig is outstanding, tremendous matchup. He dominated the game with 19 points, five assists and 12 rebounds. He's a difficult matchup and an awfully good player who makes everybody else better.

Give them credit. They were the best team today. I'm not going to downplay the outstanding season that we had. I want our guys to learn from this experience. We did a lot of great things in the best conference in basketball. Today just wasn't our day. We'll grow from that.

Q. Can you describe a little the postgame message, what that locker room was like, and sending off some really good players here at the end?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Yeah, they're players that -- the hardest thing about making the NCAA Tournament is when you lose, it's the locker room. It's family. You see a lot of guys hurting, a lot of guys in tears, a lot of guys disappointed. Yet such is life. Life deals you some very challenging blows at different times, and you've got to wake up in the morning and the sun comes up and you've got to go about your business.

Today was not our day. Yet where Illinois basketball was four years ago compared to where it is now, I like where we're at. I like our young guys. I like our pieces. We've just got to continue to work and stay at this level.

Q. You mentioned just Loyola rocking your team. What do you feel like maybe was missing where you weren't able to answer that in the way you have before?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Well, they did a really good job in their ball screen coverage. Again, with a veteran team, Porter is able to do a lot of different things. We didn't expect them to play a deep ball screen coverage, which they had done a lot, and they got up and really did a good job of boxing us in. We didn't do a very good job of playing out of it. We had two or three or four turnovers real early, and again, we said this was a team that was very much like an Indiana team we faced defensively, and we didn't handle it very well.

Again, give them credit.

Q. What did they do so well on Ayo defensively?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Guarded him. I mean, they got up into ball screens very hard and were very, very aggressive in him and made him pass the ball or try to pass the ball. He got downhill a few times and missed a couple of easy ones early, but again, it was a tough night. Ayo doesn't have six turnovers very often, and they made it tough for him to get to the rim.

Q. What adjustments did you try to make and how come you didn't feel like those worked?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Yeah, we put everybody in them. We tried putting Ayo in shakes to get him going. I thought we tried to establish in Kofi. We didn't go early enough to Kofi. I thought we missed him, and when we did go to him early, he missed three or four. We tried everything in the bag. Everything that's made us one of the most efficient offensive teams today, just for whatever reason didn't work. Trent goes 1-for-10 and he's been playing great, and it was -- but you can't turn it over 17 times in an NCAA Tournament game against a good team and expect to win, and turnovers were the undoing.

Q. What did you see go wrong in your ball screen coverage where Krutwig was able to get many opportunities in the pick-and-roll?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: No, they do a lot of what we call zoom action, bring a lot of guys off hand-offs, and it's the same thing that we've done all year. Krutwig is -- we tried to make it a two-on-two game, and Krutwig hurt us with a little bit of -- with a couple rolls; I'm okay with that. But we made four mistakes in the first half just on coverages where we didn't talk. We haven't been making those, and that's one of the things that was really disappointing today at halftime was just the simple communication mistakes.

We knew Krutwig was going to score, and he's a really good player, and he elevates. We were more concerned about trying not to let him elevate his teammates, so we weren't as concerned with his points as we were him elevating. But again, give their guys credit. They did a great job.

Q. Just the way Loyola was kind of able to use all the shot clock on just about every possession, how much did that wear you down down the stretch and how frustrating was it, that pace they were playing with and how they were able to use the clock there?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Well, we knew coming in they only give up six points a game in transition. We felt like we had to get some stops to be able to run, and again, early, that's what they do. They grind possessions, are one of the slower teams in the country in pace of play. And again, with Krutwig, it gets hard to take anything away because he can play at the top of the key, he's got an unlimited dribble, and as soon as you run stuff at him, or somebody at him, he dices you with a pass.

They're a hard guard, and they've got very skilled guys who are very well schooled in what they're doing, and they hurt us with it today.

Q. As soon as the final buzzer went off, Ayo made a beeline for Andre Curbelo, wrapped him up and led him off the court. He was giving hugs to everybody else. In that kind of moment, what does it say about your team where they sort of rallied around each other in a tough moment?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Well, that's what we've done all year. Ayo is an unbelievable leader. Ayo will go take that next step, and deservedly so. But Ayo has done more for this program and these young guys, Ayo and Ace and Coleman Hawkins and Brandon Lieb and all these guys that are going to continue to build this.

My hats off to Ayo. He does a great, great job of leading and has been instrumental in this. His jersey will hang in our rafters some day. But in a day that's really tough for -- was tough for him, to show that continued leadership speaks volumes to who he is as a young man.

Q. Obviously this team did things that an Illinois team hasn't done in a long time, but obviously this is a tough way to end it. How do you hope this team is remembered, especially with what happened today?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Yeah, I mean, it's one of the great things about March Madness is you have an off-day and you lose, and you can't lose sight of the -- I don't even know what our record was. You can't lose sight of that. You can't lose sight of the Big Ten championship. You can't lose sight of the 19 games we won against Big Ten opponents. You can't lose sight of the growth that this team made through the season. I'll remember this very, very fondly, this group, as a team that really continued to take the next step in our progress of building.

I think we've brought Illinois back, and it's been a resurrection of sorts and a great challenge, and this team has accomplished a great deal.

Q. Is there one moment you will take away from this season or one thing in particular you will always have? How will you remember specific things?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Yeah, being able to celebrate the Big Ten championship here in Indy was one of the positives. I'll also remember the unbelievable sacrifice that our young people have made since June 10th, and that's hard, not seeing family, the commitment, not having a positive test since August, how hard that can be and the dedication and commitment and sacrifice. That's probably what makes today even harder than the loss itself was there was so much sacrifice and work put in.

We also got to celebrate some unbelievable moments, and you never forget those.

Q. What are the thoughts running through your head right now?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: You know, I'm a real softy at heart, and man, when you walk in and you see young people crying, I get really emotional anyway, and I always go there first before I think of the positives and the good. You know, the game is over. We'll have plenty of time to review that. But I'm with those guys in the locker room, and my heart aches for them. I'm truly sad that today wasn't our day.