Piper: Underwood DNA missing from MSG drubbing – 247Sports
Source: 247Sports
NEW YORK CITY — Brad Underwood called his team back to their corner of the ring with consecutive timeouts in the span of 69 not-so-nice seconds at the start of the second half.
Dazed, bloodied and severely overmatched against No. 3 Duke, the Illini returned to the bench to find an old-school version of Underwood (finally, some might say) who was breathing fire and challenging his guys to fight. But the beatdown continued to the point of embarrassment, as Illinois walked away from the bright lights of Madison Square Garden on the wrong side of 110-67, its most lopsided loss in program history.
Say what you want about controllable flaws in roster building, schematics and on-court decision making, as well as the uncontrollable circumstances associated with a team that’s collectively dealt with a broken wrist, a forearm injury, mono, norovirus, the flu and a rolled ankle over the last seven weeks. But in a ‘backs against the wall’ moment, you’d expect one of Mr. Pizza Hut Parking Lot’s teams to clench its jaw and battle. Instead, they hit the pavement and laid there lifeless.
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