Brad Underwood Floats Drastic Measures for Illinois' Next Morning Game After USC Dud

Illinois has not been able to play well before noon for several years.

llinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood reacts during the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at State Farm Center. / Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Illinois entered Saturday's home game against USC ranked 13th in the country and carrying a 4–1 record in Big Ten play. The 11 a.m. local tip offered an opportunity to make a statement and then leave plenty of time for Illini fans to run errands. But once again, the pre-noon start time proved an ominious omen as the Trojans walked out of the State Farm Center with an 82–72 victory.

Illinois is now 2–11 in contests that begin in the morning since the 2020–21 season and have lost nine straight.

Coach Brad Underwood was underwhelmed by his team's effort and offered some pointed critiques postgame, taking issue with USC outrebounding his side, 37–34.

"Shows where our mental focus was," he said. "Not taking anything away from them. They completely outplayed us. They kicked our butt. It's a tribute to them, but shoot, we never get outrebounded. We're one of the top rebounding teams in the country." 

He then spitballed a drastic plan to address the groggy morning display.

"I guess we're going to have to start getting up at 5 [a.m.] and having shootaround and get the blood boiling because we had nothing today," Underwood said. "They had it all." 

Brainstroming ideas when a loss is still stinging causes some unique ideas. In theory, waking well before the sun on a Saturday doesn't seem like the most popular idea among college students—athletes included. Yet when there's been an inablity to perform well without a solid lunch, everything should be on the table.

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