Illinois' Brad Underwood Talks Indiana, Challenges Ahead for What Was Top-5 Team

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – When stars Ayo Dosumnu and Kofi Cockburn decided to return for another year at Iliinois, the talk of Big Ten titles and maybe more started immediately. And with good reason. Those two guys are great players, and the Illini have plenty of weapons around them.

But here we sit, the day after Christmas, and Illinois already has lost three games. When they take on Indiana on Saturday at 4 p..m. ET, they'll enter the game with a 6-3 record.

Three losses. And ranked No. 18 in the country. That's out of the norm, certainly this season.

"We do want to win them all. I go to practice, and I try to get them better that day,'' Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "We've got veterans with a lot of pride, and I wouldn't trade my team for any team in the country.''

There's something to be said about the losses, though. No. 2 Baylor is 6-0 so far this season. Missouri is 6-0 as well. Rutgers was 6-0 before finally losing at Ohio State on Wednesday.

"The three teams we've played are, what, 17-0, 18-0, something like that, so we just need to continue to grow and learn from those experiences.''

Illinois was one of the better defensive teams in the country last year, but that hasn't been the case so far this season. In those three losses, they've given up 84.7 points per game.

"I've been disappointed with our defensive consistency,'' Underwood said. "To go out against Minnesota and be as impressive and dedicated and dialed in as we were against them (in a 92-65 win), and then not answer that for 40 minutes the next game against Rutgers is disappointing. Don't take anything away from Rutgers, because they are a very good team, but how we're playing defense has to get better.

This will be Illinois' third game this week, and Underwood knows Archie Miller and Indiana will come with everything they've got, especially after a poor performance in a home loss against Northwestern and still feeling the bitterness of last year's 67-66 loss at Champaign.

He knows Indiana can be dangerous inside.

"I think Archie is a terrific coach, and he puts a very good player like Trayce Jackson-Davis in a lot of positions where he can be successful,'' Underwood said of the Indiana sophomore forward who's averaging 21 points per game. "They're running offense through him. He does it on the block, does it in action. When you've got a big who can do all those things, he makes everyone better.

"(Race) Thompson is as versatile as there is. They do a lot of high-low stuff and we need to be solid in our post defense. They do a lot to get Trayce the ball. We've seen a lot of guard-oriented stuff so far in our schedule, so this brings a new challenge. We need to be conscious of what they do.''

Ayo Dosumnu leads Illinois in scoring, averaging 23.4 points a game, and he's been terrific. He's a lot for Indiana to handle, with Armaan Franklin likely to get the call to stop him, or least slow him down.

That won't be easy.

"He's probably as good a finisher as there is in college basketball,'' Underwood said. "He's tough in getting to the rim, and he's a 6-6 guy who draws a lot of fouls.''

Indiana has an experienced team and Underwood knows to expect a battle.

"I think we understand who Indiana is, and who Indiana has been and the history of that program. We're getting a great basketball team with a great player and a lot of great tradition,'' he said. "They've got veteran guards, they're playing a little bit smaller. They're a team that gets to the foul line a lot and we need to avoid that. We need to be ball-tough and execute.

It's been a long week for the Illini, and it's going to be interesting to see how much they have left in the tank.

"This is our third game this week, and we've had very little 'us' time,'' Underwood said. "There's been games, and a lot of travel, and it will be good to have some time to work on ourselves with a week off after the Indiana game.

"But we have to get through that one first. I'm sure we're going to get their best shot.''

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