Underwood Says Michigan State Won With This Recipe Saturday

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- One of the coaches that Michigan State's Tom Izzo seems to have a lot of respect for in the Big Ten is Illinois head man Brad Underwood.

There are some similarities between the two coaches. Underwood builds his roster a lot differently than Izzo, but he's still one of the more rugged coaches in the conference and gets his players to play a good brand of basketball.

Feb 7, 2026; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood protests a call during the first half against the Michigan State Spartans at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. | Dale Young-Imagn Images

Saturday was the 14th time Izzo and Underwood have squared off. No. 10 MSU's 85-82 victory in overtime over the fifth-ranked Fighting Illini extended Izzo's advantage to 9-5, along with giving the Spartans their fourth straight victory in the series.

Not every visiting coach has gone and spoken at the lectern this season. Underwood did. A full video of his postgame press conference can be found below.

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"High-level college basketball game," Underwood said during his opening statement. "Two really good teams, about what I expected it to be. [MSU was] a team that had lost twice and played great, so my hat's off to Tom."

Underwood seemed to think that Michigan State just did the smaller things a little bit better. Both of these teams are among the nation's elite at rebounding, but the Spartans ended up with a plus-10 advantage on the boards, also out-rebounding the Illini 7-2 during overtime. Illinois also committed a couple of lane violations --- something many MSU opponents have done this year --- but Underwood said that was something they addressed.

"They've got a couple guys that pause," Underwood said. "It's an unnatural shooting form. But we talked about it. We talked about it in preparation, that you had to watch the ball, you had to pay attention. Again, and that's mental toughness, and that's ultimately on me, but we've gotta be better than that. That's the kind of stuff that in March, the NCAA Tournament, it sends your butt home."

One of the other key moments of the press conference was when Underwood was asked about the review where MSU's Jeremy Fears Jr. and Illinois' David Mirkovic got tangled up. Mirkovic took a spill to the floor, and Underwood challenged the play for a potential flagrant, thinking Fears might've intentionally tripped him. The officials didn't call anything on Fears after the review, seemingly ruling the tripping to be accidental.

"There was nothing on the trip," Underwood said. "They [the officials] looked at it, and it's always gonna be a judgemental thing. He [Fears] stops, and it's what he does."

Underwood, Izz — Jan 13, 2023; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood, left, shakes hands with Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo before the first half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

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