“Sometimes it’s just not very pretty and it can’t be”: Underwood Finds His Ugly Winning Example With This 2022-23 Version of Illini Basketball
In a 73-44 win over Syracuse, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood is basking in the beauty of how his team figured out how to thrive in what might be considered by others as ugly basketball.
By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer
November 30, 2022
(Cover photo courtesy Ron Johnson/USA Today Sports)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- In a 29-point blowout win in its ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchup, this Illinois squad accomplished something that their head coach has been talking about since he arrived in Champaign.
Brad Underwood, who is entering his sixth season leading the Illini program, constantly has spoken about his affection for finding the beauty in what a majority of basketball fans might see as ugly play. Specifically, Underwood is always looking for examples of when his basketball team finds ways to succeed on nights when jump shots aren’t falling. The 73-44 win over a struggling Syracuse team was the 2022-23 Illini’s ability to hang their version of a Jackson Pollack painting inside State Farm Center while their head coach applauded the grotesque.