COLUMN: Well, that simply won’t do in Arizona

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Well, that season-opener, whatever in the world it was, is not going to work from Illinois.

Not in Arizona. Not in the Big Ten Conference. And nearly didn’t work Tuesday night in a 78-70 overtime winner over Nicholls State.

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood used phrases such as “we quit”, “we got outplayed”, “we’re not mentally tuned in” and “that’s not to take anything away from Nicholls”.

No Brad, go ahead and take some things away from the team predicted to finish 11th in the mighty Southland Conference.

And maybe Nicholls State, with their second-year coach, six transfers and two returning starters, will be a force in a league Underwood dominated while at Stephen F. Austin from 2013-16. Who knows? But this was a night to show you’re ready to head on the road and be part of the national college basketball conversation before we flip the calendar to 2020. Unfortunately what Tuesday night’s season opener did was provide more questions than answers.

“We can’t allow a team to go on a 16-0 run with five minutes to go,” Underwood said following the narrow victory. “I’m really disappointed. I’m disappointed we got beat for loose balls. We got completely outplayed and Nicholls all the credit for that.”

Well, not all the credit Brad. Some of that credit goes to what we like to call unforced errors either physical or mental from players that are expected to make sure this Illini team rises with its high preseason expectations.

“Ayo (Dosunmu) is way too good a player to have five turnovers against anybody,” the Illini third-year coach said. “Giorgi (Bezhanishvili) is way too good of a player to have four turnovers.”

With a depleted frontcourt depth proving fifth-year senior Kipper Nichols is a required piece at least until freshman Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk is ready to contribute, the Illini got just nine points from 56 combined bench minutes. Nichols, who was the first player off Underwood’s bench Tuesday night, provided a giant goose egg in the scoring column and two defensive rebounds in 16 minutes of action. If Nichols isn’t good or even average, the pressure is then on Bezhanishvili to figure out his role at power forward quick, fast and in a hurry without actually being any of those things on the floor.

Illinois (1-0) got outplayed on turnovers (23 to 16) and managed to blow a 53-23 advantage on the glass by allowing Nicholls State to shoot 54.5 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes.

"We got up 16, 17, 18 or whatever it was and we just quit,” Underwood said. “That's not who we are. It won't be who we are."

No matter what happens from now until the end of Underwood’s third season in Champaign, I’m guessing the Wednesday film session and/or walk-through practice won’t be pleasant as the Illini head to Land of the Rising Sun for two road games (at Grand Canyon Friday and at No. 21 Arizona Sunday). This is the most concerning aspect of what the Illini are staring at right now is a road trip that isn’t conducive to being in a hostile environment, especially like the McKale Center where Arizona is 94-8 in the last 102 home games and also 47-1 in its last 48 non-conference home games.

Simply put, Illinois plays like they did Tuesday night in Tucson and it won’t be worth the effort of Illinois fans trying to desperately find anybody in the central Illinois area with a hookup to the fledgling Pac 12 Network.

Maybe Nicholls State did Illinois and its coaching staff a favor by exposing flaws in its armor before the meat of its non-conference schedule hit them in the face. But what if those flaws are fatal and something Illinois must play through early and often this season?

“Why would we be disappointed?,” Dosunmu said after the overtime win. “We won.”

The answer, of course, to Dosunmu’s question is simple.

As scary as being down 66-64 with 84 seconds left to a low-major team you’re favored to beat by 22 is, the idea that these problems Illinois wasn’t able to fix Tuesday are permanent is quite another horror movie for this program rebuild process.

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