Sunday’s Exhibition Is a Decisive Step in Illinois’ Progress | Content

CHAMPAIGN — Has Brad Underwood learned all he can about his Illinois men’s basketball team in more than two months of summer practices, more time in the fall and less than a month of full practice ahead of the 2024-25 season?

Of course not.

Coaches love working on the training ground.

But opportunities like Illinois’ not-so-secret showdown with Butler and Sunday’s upcoming charity exhibition game in Mississippi are far more telling. Especially for the Illini, who have 10 newcomers, including five freshmen, playing against teams like the Bulldogs and Rebels.

Underwood created these opportunities for a reason. Both Butler and Ole Miss have older teams with successful coaches.

And after hosting the Bulldogs for a scrimmage at State Farm Center, Underwood chose to head to the exhibition game.

Hence the trip to Oxford, Miss., for Sunday’s 11 a.m. showdown with the No. 24 Rebels, who return three starters in Matthew Murrell, Jaylen Murray and Jamin Brakefield and added a pair of high-profile transfer guards in Dr Davis (Seton). Hall) and Sean Pedulla (Virginia Tech).

“You want to see how they handle adversity, how they handle an opposing crowd,” Underwood said during his appearance on the “Monday Night SportsTalk” radio show on WDWS 2:00 p.m. and 93.9 FM at Esquire in downtown Champaign. “As for basketball, we look at the lineups, at the matches. I want to see how we guard. I want to see if we’re strong enough to take on Matt Murrell, who’s probably a pro. How do we cope with a truly athletic team.

“You need to take some shots when you’re on the road. If not, you’ll have to figure out how to win. That’s what interests me. Are we going to be a team that gets offensive rebounds, makes stops, dives on the floor for loose balls? All the intangibles are what the teams have done over the last five years. We have to continue to grow and do the same.”

Underwood entered the Oct. 13 showdown against Butler without seeing much separation between his players. It was either a sign of great depth or a red flag.

Playing for the Bulldogs didn’t necessarily reveal much. It was a single fight, sometimes broken into segments. Plus 7-foot freshman Tomislav Ivisic was not available (and may not have been Sunday yet as Illinois awaits his clearance from the NCAA).

“It’s a very small sample size,” Underwood said of the fight. “I haven’t played with Ty Rogers a lot. I know what I have with Ty. You wanted to play a freshman. I played them some more.

“It was about matches. It was about playing a little less, playing a little more. You just saw it in two-, three-, or four-minute segments. We’re still working on it. Every day in training someone surprises me and I say, “Oh my God.” If you saw how good Jake Davis was (Monday), it was like, “Man, I need to give him a few minutes.”

Sunday’s benefit exhibition is Illinois’ last opportunity to see someone else on the court before the Nov. 4 season opener against Eastern Illinois at State Farm Center. This will begin to show whether the efforts made since June to build a mostly new team have stuck, or whether there is still work to be done to make the 2024-25 season a continuation of the success the program has achieved over the past five years.

“We played a lot more five-on-five than we used to,” Underwood said of trying to put together a new team on the same page. “It’s about learning about each other. It’s about learning trends. Feel each other on and off the court.

“I really like all these things when you put them together. You can’t have anything else if you want to win. I told our team (Monday), “There are 18 teams in the Big Ten. All of them are in the top 75 on KenPom. How are we going to separate? It happens every year in the Big Ten. … You get to play a great team every time. How to win? We talk about these things a lot, trying to bring them together, thinking the same way and playing for each other.”