Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood was at loss of words in an emotional press conference following the 71-62 defeat in the 2026 Final Four against the UConn Huskies.
Underwood’s team entered the matchup as one of the best offenses in the nation, but UConn shut them down to just 33.9% from the field, including 23.1% from three. It was so bad that the Illinois team could only record three assists in the entire game.
Facing reporters, Underwood was extremely emotional and disappointed as he took a line out of fellow Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson’s vocabulary to address the loss.
“I feel sad, I’m sad, if you want to know the truth I’m sad, but I’ll reflect on some of the other stuff later,” Underwood said. “Seasons come into an instinct, because I’m going to steal a quote from Kelvin Sampson, they may not be as big a part of their life, but they are my life, and I’m sad, I’m sad.”
Once Again, Illinois Couldn’t Overcome UConn and It’s Same Reason
Illinois just doesn’t know how to get around and score against UConn. All three of Illinois’ lowest-scoring games in recent seasons came vs UConn. They lost to UConn in the 2024 NCAA Tournament too. In short, UConn has become Illinois’ kryptonite.
As for Saturday’s Final Four game, Illinois went 6-for-26 from the three-point range. Their star performer, Keagon Wagler, shot inefficiently for his 20 points, shooting 7-16 from the field, including 2-10 from the 3-point line.
It’s not like Illinois didn’t get decent looks; they just couldn’t make the basketball drop.
“You hold a team to 35% from the field and we have had the number one offense in country all year,” Underwood said. “Give UConn credit, they forced some of those misses but I thought our looks were really good. A lot of credit to UConn. They fight, they compete and are a very good basketball team.”
Underwood himself admitted postgame he couldn’t fully explain why his offense keeps failing vs UConn.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s the uniform,” Underwood said. “I don’t know, we make those shots against everybody else. I just don’t know. I felt so good about the shots. We are right at the rim on some of those. They are point-blank shots we missed and then it’s wide open 3s. It’s just part of the breaks. I don’t make too much of it against one team, but give them credit, they are a top-10 defense but we have played other top 10 defenses and shot better than that.”
Now, it’s time for Underwood to move on from this heartbreaking loss and prepare for next season.
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