Illinois coach Brad Underwood on Maryland: "We let Rodney Rice cook us ... They're good enough to win it."
Before any media members at his press conference Friday night could follow up after his first answer, Illinois coach Brad Underwood interjected with an unprompted thought about Maryland: "They're good enough to win it."
Before any media members at his press conference Friday night could follow up after his first answer, Illinois coach Brad Underwood interjected with an unprompted thought about Maryland.
"And by the way," he said, "they're good enough to win it. They're good. They're really good."
It's unclear if the "it" Underwood was referring to be the Big Ten Tournament or the NCAA Tournament: that's open to interpretation. But given how dominant Maryland (25-7) was in its 88-65 win over a hot Illinois team, it wouldn't be crazy to think he was talking about the Big Dance. Rodney Rice poured in 26 points in 29 minutes, torching the Illini's (21-12) with seven 3-pointers on nine tries.
"We let Rodney Rice cook us in the first half. Very disappointing. I was really disappointed in our defense on the perimeter," he said. "I was good with letting Reese and Queen try to score twos because it's not what makes them great. What makes them great is when they make threes, and our perimeter defense—we were just very flat, very lethargic, not much energy. And that's on me, getting these guys ready to play, understanding the urgency."
More from Underwood below:
On Maryland's defense: "Hopefully we learned a lot from Maryland today. And the energy—they're the number one defense in the country analytically since January. And us scoring 110 or whatever we scored yesterday probably gave them a little more hype to come out and kick our butt. And they did."
On his team's 17 turnovers: "We opened the game with two turnovers—we just threw the ball to them. They do a great job of playing with their hands in the pocket. We told them all, 'Your pocket passes, you can't throw them,' and then Tommy throws one low right after that."
Illini guard Kylan Boswell: "I think what Coach said Iowa was kind of a false reality. Every team is going to be trying to play because they're not trying to go home. Really aggressive. Talking a lot. Maryland, for sure, today.
"They were shocking our central nervous system, you know? And you just can't come out there not ready to hoop at any point.
