Best of the Presser: What Brad Underwood and the Illini Are Saying Ahead of Elite Eight

After advancing past Houston on Thursday and securing its place among the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, Illinois has drawn a matchup with a familiar Big Ten foe in Iowa, which knocked off eighth-seeded Clemson, No. 1 seed Florida and fourth-seeded Nebraska to reach the tournament quarterfinals.

On Saturday, Illini coach Brad Underwood and a trio of his players – Kylan Boswell, Andrej Stojakovic and Keaton Wagler – recapped the victory over the Cougars while offering their thoughts on the Iowa game. Here are some key quotes from Boswell, Wagler and Underwood:

Illinois’ Kylan Boswell on protecting leads

“We’ve had a couple games throughout the season where we’ve gotten up early and let teams come back," Boswell said on Friday. "I think having those games under our belt, and playing in the best conference all year – we’ve had a lot of huge games, a lot of pressure moments – so we can just rely on ourselves and everything we’ve done all year [for] when those moments get tough like that, to maintain and continue to win the game.”

Keaton Wagler recaps Illinois' win over Houston

“Just reading the defense, seeing what they’re doing," Wagler said of the Illini's approach in a 65-55 win over the second-seeded Cougars. "Houston, they were trapping, hard-hedging every ball screen, so just getting the ball out of my hands quickly, making them play in rotation. Just trusting my teammates to go out there and make the right play – and that’s what was happening.

“When we went on our run, it was just me getting the ball out of my hands and us making quick decisions, getting wide-open shots, and we started to knock them down. And then if we weren’t, we were getting on the offensive glass.”

Brad Underwood on Illinois’ defensive growth in NCAA Tournament

“I think there’s a tremendous focus," Underwood said. "There’s a maturity. [Defensive coordinator Camryn Crocker] has done a really nice job of talking scout, following the details. We’ve been very specific about how we want to do some certain things. Watching film of last night’s game, I thought the most impressive thing was I didn’t feel like there was one possession that we were off. I thought we had the mental turned up. There weren’t a lot of scouting-report mistakes. That’s been one of the biggest keys. We’ve been very good throughout the season at times. We just haven’t been that consistent. So that has to continue if we want to keep moving on.”

Underwood on Iowa’s NCAA Tournament run

“It’s not one thing," Underwood said of the Hawkeyes' success in the tournament. "I think their ability to be diverse. They played a shooting lineup a lot yesterday [against Nebraska] with [Cooper] Koch and [Tate] Sage. I think both those young men are better. They’re not freshmen anymore – not playing like freshmen. They’re playing like chiseled veterans.

“They can play big. I think, defensively, they’re very dialed in, very focused. … They’re rebounding better – especially on the offensive side. I think they’re doing a lot of things very, very well. They played big against Clemson. Obviously, they matched Florida on the glass, which is very impressive. We scrimmaged Florida. We know how challenging that was. They’re obviously playing very well.”