How Illinois is staying focused in uncharted territory

INDIANAPOLIS — As Illinois head coach Brad Underwood grazed the halls of Lucas Oil Stadium, an ear-to-ear smile lingered.

He couldn’t seem to shake off his grin; in fact, he hasn’t been able to all week.

Who can blame him? For the first time in his 36 years of coaching, he’s reached the biggest stage in the sport of college basketball. And he’s done it at his dream job: Illinois, which hadn’t reached that stage in 21 years.

“You enjoy it,” Underwood said on Friday. “You compartmentalize a lot of it; you understand there’s a job to do. It’s an unbelievable event for the student-athletes. I told our guys, now it’s over, we gotta make sure this thing is all about UConn and try to win the next game.”

Illinois’ locker room found itself full to the brim, with most of the complementary players basking in the attention from a herd of media. Those who would rather bypass the media could enjoy the open locker room time with some Mario Kart.

But hidden behind all the lights, littered between the smiles and handshakes exchanged in the pomp and circumstance of the Final Four is the hard work the team put in to reach this stage.

Less than a month ago, Illinois had lost five straight Quad I games, four of them in overtime — including a devastating Big Ten Tournament overtime loss against Wisconsin.

That’s the one that broke the camel’s back.

“I think the Big Ten Tournament loss kind of did it for us. Obviously, it didn’t really change the way we feel about this team and how good we are,” Andrej Stojakovic told TCR. “But moving forward, we knew it was win or go home.”

What ensued in Champaign was disarray. But at Ubben Basketball Center, nothing changed.

But Kylan Boswell and David Mirkovic spearheaded a players-only meeting. Which, in retrospect, seems to be the inflection point for Illinois’ ascension into the Final Four.

“It wasn’t a negative meeting at all, it wasn’t a meeting where we had to flip the switch meeting or anything like that, it was a justification meeting, reiterating that we are that good, and that loss shouldn’t affect us at all.”

For Stojakovic, the key to rising to the moment in the March Madness tournament was getting fully healthy. He’s fit into the sixth man role to contrast a lethal shooting team.

Boswell, Jake Davis and Tomislav Ivisic were the leading voices in the room, and their voices have magnified as the tournament has progressed.

“I think coach Underwood will continue, and has done so far since I’ve been here, to just be able to put a great group of guys together, who genuinely love and care for one another,” Boswell said. “I think that’s just been the biggest advantage that this team’s had.”

Perhaps a guy who can offer up a unique perspective as one of the rare people who has remained at Illinois for all four seasons is AJ Redd.

“Normally, you might have a couple guys who might not be completely bought into it, but I think this year, from top to bottom, everybody’s completely bought in and it’s made a difference,” Redd said. “And it’s part of the reason we’ve been able to make a run this year.”

Illinois felt an aching pain after collapsing in the Big Ten Tournament. But reaching the Final Four isn’t enough.

“It’s an accomplishment for the program to be here, but we’re here for more,” Stojakovic said.

Illinois had thousands of fans in attendance for Friday’s open practice at Lucas Oil Stadium. But UConn has had some magic March dust sprinkled on them.

When you walk into their locker room, it’s business as usual. It’s almost striking how serene the room is. How serious faces erode the room.

While Illinois has Mario Kart, UConn has empty platters. A serious lack of vibes.

It’s not surprising, given the messaging of head coach Dan Hurley.

“We came here for rings, not watches,” Hurley said on Thursday.

While Illinois will likely have a sizable fan advantage, it has serious work to do against a UConn team that has a blend of championship experience coupled with a chip on the shoulder.

“After the elite eight win, there was obviously a lot of joy and happiness around that, but the day after, we locked back in, and it’s business as usual,” UConn guard Jacob Furphy told TCR.

Even Freshman Braylon Mullins, the star of the moment during UConn’s Elite Eight win over Duke, admitted they celebrated the win for about 12-to-24 hours before getting back to business as usual.

Illinois has echoed a similar sentiment. For the faces of the program, they seem ready to drop the media attention.

More willing to give time to the fans who made the trip to the open practice. And let there be no doubt, there was a huge turnout from the Illini faithful.

Illinois is headed to a private gym to put the final pieces of their plan together for their test against UConn.