COLUMN: Underwood Sees Beauty in Illini's 'Ugly' Win

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood can solace in pointing out a lot of good in a ugly 66-53 win over Hawaii Monday night.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois’ third-year coach does know one thing about Monday night’s ugly performance over Hawaii.

It’s a win that can be replicated against quality competition.

In a season still filled with wonder and questions just four games in, Brad Underwood does know if his team can defend as well as it did against Hawaii, they’ll post a lot of wins in the 2019-20 campaign.

Illinois has emphasized the “kill” this season, which is three defensive stops in a row, and Underwood continues to post in practice, shoot-a-rounds and how many of those “kills” his team gets this season.

“I didn’t think we were struggling but the ball wasn’t going in,” Illinois junior guard Trent Frazier said. “We got eight of those kills tonight. Defense can be what we can do when that ball isn’t going in the hole.”

Illinois (3-1) arrived at the State Farm Center ready to embark on a perimeter challenge of a team hitting 39.8 percent from 3-point range and averaging 73.8 points per game. Forty minutes later, Hawaii’s two best scorers (Eddie Stansbury and Samuta Avea) saw a horrid night of contested jumpers and high-energy man-to-man defense result in just 19 total points on 8 of 25 shooting and 3 of 13 from 3-point range.

The combination of Frazier’s ability on the defensive end and the fact that Illinois dominates the glass for one-and-done possessions is a formula that can produce even if the Illini can’t find the bottom of the net offensively.

Need proof? The Illini finished the first half 8 of 24 from the field with 10 turnovers and just three points from freshman center Kofi Cockburn. This formula is what produced the implosion at Arizona last weekend but Illinois allowed Hawaii to make just two 3-point shots and one offensive rebound to salvage a tie score at the halftime break.

“(Underwood) walked in at halftime and said great defense,” Frazier said. “Our goal right now is to get as many kills as we can on defense and run solid offense. Eventually the ball will go down.”

In the second half at No. 15 Arizona, a 15-0 run in the second half when Illinois couldn’t buy a basket to relieve the pressure ultimately doomed its defensive execution. In the physical, rugged and half-court element of conference play (which starts in less than a month), the Illinois veterans realize an identity of this team could be holding a Hawaii team to 53 points may look scary to the Michigan’s, Maryland’s, Purdue’s and Wisconsin’s who Illinois will see before the second week in January.

“I thought it was extremely gritty, tough, defensive-minded basketball game tonight,” Underwood said. “One of the things we’re trying to establish is that (defensive) mentality. We all know offense wins games and defense wins championships.”