CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois loves to play the villain. But against the Wisconsin Badgers, the Illini will be out for blood.
The Illini suffered two heartbreaking losses to the Badgers in overtime last season, one at home and one in the Big Ten Tournament.
“Sometimes I think when we make shots, we get casual on the other end and we think it’s just easy. I had that feeling today.”
BRAD Underwood after Big Ten Tournament loss
This time around, after reflecting on those losses for some time, Underwood will do all he can to stop Wisconsin from stealing its third straight win over Illinois at the Kohl Center Jan. 2.
The Illini boasted a surprising 8-2 record away from home last season, and on top of that, the Badgers lost two of their game-changers: guards Nick Boyd and John Blackwell. Across both overtime losses last year, the two combined for 118 points.
Greg Gard’s Badgers retained a few key playmakers in Austin Rapp and Nolan Winter, but it likely won’t be enough to compete with the Ivisic twins, Stojakovic, Mirkovic and Jake Davis—who will be full of motivation after they failed last time out—and the additions of soon-to-be Illinois stars Quentin Coleman and Stefan Vaaks.
The Badgers traveled to State Farm Center on Feb. 10, 2025, to face an Illinois team coming off an overtime loss in East Lansing to the Michigan State Spartans. The loss to the Spartans had snapped the Illini’s 12-game winning streak, which marked the longest streak of the Brad Underwood era.
After leading Wisconsin by 12 with eight minutes to go, Illinois collapsed late in the second half, turning the ball over to the Badgers eight times and missing seven free throws. Wisconsin guards John Blackwell and Nick Boyd torched the Illini defense and combined for 49 points, which was enough to eventually steal the 92-90 win in overtime and hand Illinois its second straight OT loss.
In the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on March 13, the Illini sought revenge for that first overtime loss. They came out hot, leading for most of the game yet again and comfortably held a 15-point lead with 11 minutes left in the second half.
But they got too complacent, the same way they did in their first matchup and the same way they did in the overtime loss to UCLA. As Wisconsin stormed back, Illinois panicked. It showed in the stats: Illinois snagged 21 first-half rebounds to Wisconsin’s nine. Wisconsin ended up winning the rebound battle.
Jan. 2 at the Kohl Center may be a different story.
Illinois will embrace the villain role not just for revenge, but also simply because they love silencing an away crowd, like they did last season at Mackey Arena against Purdue, at Bridgestone Arena against Tennessee, at Pinnacle Bank Arena against Nebraska and in the Sweet 16 in Houston against Houston, to name a few. Brad Underwood has Wisconsin circled on his calendar and will look to silence yet another crowd in Madison come Jan. 2.
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