Brad Underwood Explains Root of Illinois' Defensive Woes

The reason Illinois fell to Nebraska last Saturday was clear: defense. The offense wasn’t the problem, nor was its work on the glass. We are taught from a young age not to point fingers, but after that loss, the defense deserved each and every finger pointed its way. The visiting Cornhuskers shot 51.6 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from three, while committing just six turnovers.

And Nebraska's shockingly efficient afternoon wasn’t by coincidence. Sure, Pryce Sandfort’s otherworldly shooting performance was a bit of unfortunate luck, but it was also a direct result of, as Illini coach Brad Underwood put it, negligence.

Even after Sandfort was done inflicting most of his damage (26 of his 32 points came in the first half), Illinois was in a solid spot, tied 37-37 at the break. Yet despite holding Sandfort to just six points in the last 20 minutes, Nebraska’s offense still registered 46 points in that time frame.

Why Illinois doesn't need to make changes to the defensive scheme

Dec 9, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood reacts to a call during the first half against the Ohio State Buckeyes Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

So, is it time for Illinois to make changes to its defensive scheme? Underwood, pointing out the effectiveness of the Illini defense at its best, says no.

“If we do what we’re doing, we’re really good,” said Underwood, which is a statement that is indisputably true. (A sharp Illinois defense largely shut down a potent UConn offensive attack, especially in the second half.)

As for those blazing-hot individual showings that the Illini allowed in both of their Big Ten outings thus far, Underwood isn’t concerned.

“I had no problem with guys getting on heaters," he said. "One guy’s not going to beat you. It’s the fact that we’re giving up the layups, the transition baskets, and that we’re letting non-effective players beat us. [Jared] Garcia has 10 in the last 10 minutes. That’s just not paying attention to [the] scouting report. That’s little detail things that we haven’t done, but we did in that game. Bruce Thornton, he’s a terrific player. Guys are going to go on heaters. I don’t care two licks about those. It’s the shots they take and whether they’re contested or not. Yet we did a much better job in the Ohio State game not letting other guys beat us."

And he’s not exactly wrong. Yes, to an extent, it is Illinois’ fault that Sandfort was able to heat up – and stay hot. Then again, anyone with a pair of eyeballs and a room-temperature basketball IQ could tell you that Sandfort finding nylon in the first half was inevitable. The 6-foot-7 wing was in what today’s greatest minds describe as “flow state” and only the 15-minute halftime break was going to snap him out of it.

This is an absurdly quick release from Pryce Sandfort pic.twitter.com/XnDD3e4H9Z
— Tyler Metcalf (@tmetcalf11) December 14, 2025

And Thornton was a similar situation. Perhaps the Illini should have switched the undersized Kylan Boswell off the Buckeyes’ star guard earlier, but regardless, Thornton was hitting unbelievably difficult shots. Illinois won that Ohio State game because it contained everyone else. The same can’t be said about the Nebraska contest.

“We got beat by Nebraska by Sam Hoiberg and Garcia and some of the other guys," Underwood said. "It wasn’t the heater [from Pryce Sandfort]. Now, the heater bothered me because of our lack of attentiveness to him. The first shot of the game he hit was a hard shot over a contesting Andrej Stojakovic. The ones in transition, that’s just negligent on our part. We’ve got to get back to details. We’ve got to get back to doing a much better job of what our fundamental base is and we’ve spent a good amount of time doing that [this week]."

So what exactly is the cause of this lack of attention to detail and these mental miscues? To Underwood, it remains the lack of conditioning.

“It’s not been the first four or five possessions of it," he said, "It’s when you get to possession 20 … you get a little bit fatigued or you get a little bit tired.

“I’ve said it all along. I haven’t thought we were in great shape, conditioning-wise. And that shows more mentally than physically … We got to be tougher. To play through fatigue takes toughness. Mental toughness.”

After a week-plus off, conditioning can no longer be an excuse moving forward. Everyone not named Ty Rodgers has had ample time to get back into game shape and should be playing at full speed. Underwood’s decision to not make any schematic tweaks on defense is perfectly understandable, because th Xs and Os aren't the source of the problem.

It’s the attentiveness and ability to be mentally locked in across the board that is a must moving forward. Clearly, Underwood recognizes that. But over the past week, did he do anything to ensure that a change will be made for the future? We’ll get our answer on Monday when Illinois meets Missouri in St. Louis (7 p.m. CT, FS1).