‘I Cannot Get This Group to Talk’

It was abundantly clear what was on Brad Underwood’s mind after Illinois’ 108-86 win over Sam Houston on Friday. It wasn’t that the Illini scored 108 points on 53.3 percent shooting. It was that Sam Houston scored 86. And not just that the Bearkats put up that many points – but why they did. Underwood breaks it down below:

Brad Underwood on Illinois’ lack of defensive communication

“It’s a challenge right now from my seat with communication,” Underwood said. “And I cannot get this group to talk. Our three best communicators are [Tomislav Ivisic], [David Mirkovic] and [Jake Davis]. And two of them are not playing. And when you talk, you solve problems. And we’ve got a lot of guys not doing that.

“And we’ve got a lot of guys playing well, but we’re allowing too many fundamental mistakes in our processes, just because we don’t talk. Tonight, we had a couple trips, we were mixing up the zone, throwing that in there, trying to work on that. And we had two or three guys [who] didn’t even know what defense we were in.

“And that’s just a communication breakdown, which is ultimately my responsibility to make sure that we get that [figured out]. For those of you who were at the Cincinnati scrimmage, I called a timeout right at the start of the second half because Ethan [Brown] got beat on a flex cut. Here we are seven or eight games later and they run one on an out-of-bounds play and he doesn’t recognize it. And those are the things we have to clean up.”

Those little miscues add up. And those are the differences between a win or loss in a tough non-conference road environment – such as Lubbock or Durham – or a Big Ten game. Giving up an easy bucket here and there can be what flips momentum. Basketball is a game of runs, and free scores due to defensive miscommunications are often what kickstart said spurts.

Brad Underwood on the Illini freshmen growing defensively

“Every one of our freshmen has had moments where they just like … how do you not do this?” Underwood said. “And let’s face it, I’m not very patient, OK? … First time for all of them. I get it. We threw them in the deep end in Lubbock – it was an incredible environment – and said sink or swim. And we drowned the first half. And then they fought. And then they were better. 

“And that’s how you learn. I believe that. … I love this group. They’re trying. They’re competing. And it’s our job to just keep throwing them out there and helping them recognize. And there’s going to be a pointer sooner or later when that’s all going to click. And it might be Tuesday. It might be two weeks from Tuesday. I don’t know.”

Good defense turns into better offense.

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— Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB) November 14, 2026

“They’re competing” – that’s the biggie. The physical effort of this Illini freshman group cannot be questioned. Quentin Coleman is unreal in that department. Lincoln Williams isn’t far behind. But effort and mental focus are two different concepts. The ability to stay locked in for 40 minutes – even if they’re exhausted because of Illinois’ scorching pace – that needs to improve by leaps and bounds.

Why are Illinois’ freshmen struggling on defense?

“That’s their cellphone,” Underwood said on the cause of his freshmen’s communication shortcomings. “And that’s what they look at. And then they play a video game. I’m amazed that they know their ABC’s and how to speak English.

“And they’ve never been asked to talk before. And now it’s our job to help them know what to say. When you get the best players in high school, they get away with a lot. And there’s very little [that has] been demanded of them.

“But I’ve said it a million times and I’ve got at least three or four more million left in me: quiet teams lose. Quiet teams lose because it’s not a mind-reading game. … We’re playing selfish defensively. We’re not playing one-on-Illinois defense. We’re playing one-on-one. Well, my man didn’t score. And that’s not where we got to be. It’s got to be one-on-Illinois.”

We saw it last season: Illinois’ defense held it back for the entire regular season and into the Big Ten Tournament. Then, suddenly, the Illini flipped a switch in the NCAA Tournament. The communication was there. The consistent intensity was there.

This time around, the effort and desire has been there. That is a plus. But the communication is once again nowhere to be found. Ideally, it doesn’t take until March to locate it. And, if it does, Illinois’ likely going to have an unnecessarily difficult path to a deep run in the Big Dance.