Close, but no trophy: Illini falter late in loss to Wisconsin

Since Feb. 7, Illinois has gone 4-5 and four of the five losses went to overtime, including Friday when the Fighting Illini were knocked out of the Big Ten Tournament by Wisconsin.

Coach Brad Underwood doesn't want to hear any complaints about why his team can't win close games.

“The odds of basketball, it's variance,” Underwood said. “Sometimes you get good cards when you play poker, sometimes you don't. It's variance.”

Illinois seemed to have this game in hand, leading 60-45 with 11:34 remaining. But Wisconsin's notoriously streaky shooters had other plans. Guards Nick Boyd and John Blackwell combined to score 76% of the Badgers points in the 91-88 overtime victory at the United Center.

No. 5 seed Wisconsin was the only team to beat No. 1 Michigan during the Big Ten regular season. Those teams will meet again in Saturday's first semifinal.

The Illini will wait to receive their NCAA Tournament assignment on Sunday, and this result might cement them as a No. 3 seed. Underwood does still believe Illinois is one of the more talented teams in the country, which has been obvious most of the time.

“There's no one that believes in us more than I do, and the ability to make a deep, deep run,” Underwood said. “We're so close. At some point, somebody's going to flip the switch. That can start six wins in a row.”

In Underwood's estimation, the greatest failure has been securing vital rebounds at important moments. The Illini have plenty of size on the court, so there's no real excuse for it, and it happened again late in Friday's loss.

“It's not the stops. It's the dang rebound and finishing the possession,” Underwood said. “You've got to have some nasty, competitive fire to want to go get a rebound. Sometimes just do your job, block out.”

The rebounds and second-chance points were fairly even in this game, but Wisconsin had a big edge in free-throw attempts, 30-15. Boyd (38 points) and Blackwell (31 points) went a combined 21-for-22 at the line.

A telltale play happened in the opening 30 seconds. Illini point guard Kylan Boswell got in the face of Boyd and both players were given technical fouls. A few seconds later, Boswell was hit with his second foul and went to the bench. He finished with 9 points and no assists in just 18 minutes.

After the game, Boswell explained he was still ticked off about not playing in the Illini's home loss (in overtime, of course) to Wisconsin on Feb. 10. Boswell missed a month with a broken right hand in the middle of the season.

“Coming here today, I was just letting (Boyd) know that I was not playing that game, I'm here today,” Boswell said. “Then the whole mood got shot (with the technicals) and then I got another foul. After that, it was downhill from there.”

Boyd was nice about it but thanked Boswell for the added motivation.

“I needed that. It took me to that next level,” Boyd said. “I'm grateful he challenged me like that. He's a great competitor, a great player. He's a good dude. It's just competitive nature.”

A persistent issue with the Illini has been getting the lineups and chemistry aligned. They played well early in the season, then when Boswell got hurt and freshman Keaton Wagler slid over to a point forward role, it seemed to unlock a whole new dimension. Illinois beat both Purdue and Nebraska on the road with that lineup.

Now Boswell being back is a good thing, he was a first-team all-Big Ten defender. It's possible the other lineup gives Illinois a better chance to win, but it's hard to know for sure.

“It's not easy,” Underwood said. “We've had a lot of those challenges this year from first semester all through. I like our group a lot. I think we've got great, great team chemistry. We've got to find that on the court as well.”

Between the changing lineups, tough competition and frustrating losses, the Illini are certainly battle-tested.

“The best thing is, we don't see a Big Ten team (right away in the NCAA),” Underwood said. “It's a fresh life, it's a new experience, it's fun. I still believe this team still has the ability to make the deepest of runs.”