Illinois' Brad Underwood on Alabama's Pace: 'They Got to Keep Up With Us'

Alabama’s high-pace offense has been all the talk heading into its matchup with Illinois on Wednesday (8 p.m. CT, FS1). The Illini entered the season with an expectation of an equally up-tempo scheme but haven’t quite reached that bar.

Part of it has been due to their opponents (Texas Tech’s adjusted tempo is No. 308 in the country, per KenPom), but Brad Underwood’s club has notably looked comfortable and arguably even at its best when the game is slowed down.

Without lead guard Mihailo Petrovic, a speedster whose game is characterized by pushing the ball in the open floor, Illinois hasn’t had a transition player who truly wants to go. Meanwhile, Alabama has multiple players who fit that bill.

Alabama needs to 'keep up' with Illinois' pace, says Underwood

Mar 21, 2025; Milwaukee, WI, USA: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood watches play down court during the first half against the Xavier Musketeers at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Nevertheless, Underwood isn’t worried in the slightest about his team’s ability to keep up with Alabama. In fact, he believes that the Crimson Tide need to be concerned about keeping up with the Illini.

“Yeah, we do it every day. They got to look at it, too,” Underwood said. "They got to keep up with us.

“You can’t run downhill both ways. You’ve got to run on offense, you got to run back on defense. And they’ve got very good depth. I think ours is developing into that. They’ve had a guy or two out that I would expect back, but we don’t shy away from anybody in our phase of transition. So we’ll take our opportunities when they are there.”

Unfortunately, despite Underwood’s confidence in his team’s fastbreak ability, the Illini are facing an uphill battle in the depth department. Fighting the injury bug, Illinois lacks the numbers it expected to have, at least for the time being.

Against Texas Tech, Underwood played only eight – one of whom was active for just three minutes (forward Jason Jakstys). As for Nate Oats, Bama went 10 deep in its last outing, which came against No. 1 Purdue.

Even if Petrovic and guard Brandon Lee return on Wednesday, neither have played an official contest this season, meaning both of them simply cannot be well-conditioned enough to offer big minutes or even adequately keep up with the pace of the game in the time they spend on the floor.

That doesn’t exactly mean the Illini are behind the 8-ball, and as Underwood pointed out, they should certainly take advantage of their transition opportunities when they arise. Still, it does mean Illinois shouldn’t fully play into Alabama’s hands and get sped up, as it may spell disaster for an Illini team that remains short on healthy bodies.