Illinois dropped its second game of the 2025-26 men’s basketball season Friday, losing decisively to UConn 74-61 at Madison Square Garden. The Fighting Illini fell behind early and were unable to mount a serious challenge. Kylan Boswell scored, but UConn shut down his teammates and dominated from start to finish.
After the game, Illinois coach Brad Underwood blasted his players’ conditioning, questioning why, after eight games, he still had to make disruptive lineup changes that threaten the team’s Big Ten prospects.
Frustrated Illinois Coach Brad Underwood Discloses Team’s Fitness Concerns
Underwood voiced his concerns over his team’s fitness in a postgame media availability session on Friday, along with Boswell. He noted that the team isn’t in game shape going into the season. Some players are still trying to get into game shape, even as the season is already in full swing.
“I’m putting guys on the court that have not been held accountable through practice and because we’re playing so many games, we’re just trying to play guys into shape,” Underwood said. “And that’s been the frustrating thing as a coach.”
The Fighting Illini coach believes that their schedule this season will help them get into the optimum shape he wants to contend for the conference title and eventually make the 2026 NCAA Tournament. However, it all boils down to constant practice, and his players should start working on it as soon as possible.
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The Illinois coach hailed Boswell, who finished with 25 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and one steal in the loss, for following the coach’s orders and getting into shape in time for the nonconference regular season grind. He said the guard is reaping the fruits of his labor while his teammates are being left behind.
“We don’t have anybody else that can do that. There’s got to be a connectivity and I’m trying not to make an excuse but we need to grit and grind and get grimy in practice,” Underwood said. “We had one day this week that we did a drill that I can usually find out who the quitters are because winning is really hard at this level.”
The rest of the team combined for 36 points, shooting 11-of-44 from the field. Tomislav Ivisic was the only Fighting Illini player in double figures, finishing with 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting and 10 rebounds. David Mirkovic contributed eight points on 3-of-10 shooting, while Andrej Stojakovic was held down to just three points on 1-of-7 attempts.
Zvonimir Ivisic and Mihailo Petrovic combined for six points but struggled to shoot, making just 2-of-14 attempts for Illinois. Illinois couldn’t keep up with UConn’s guard attack, as Solo Ball and Malachi Smith combined for 29 points. Alex Karaban contributed 12 points and nine rebounds, while Silas Demary Jr and big man Eric Reibe provided timely defense and scoring to help UConn hold off the Illini’s comeback attempt.
Luckily for Illinois, they will have an eight-day break before their next game against Tennessee on Dec. 6. They will have the time to fix their fitness issues before facing the Volunteers in the Music City Madness at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tennessee (7-1) is coming off an 81-76 loss against Kansas and will face Syracuse on Dec. 2 before playing Illinois.
It’s very hard for a player to be in the same shape as underwood. They can try but there only 1 fatwood