Illinois HC Brad Underwood teases Kasparas Yakutsionis’ foul trouble against MSU
In a clash of two of the Big Ten’s best teams, Illinois basketball fell only against Michigan State 80-78 in a tough fight. Despite a hot start to the game, Illinois ran into some foul trouble that hurt it down the stretch and allowed Michigan State to steal the win in the final minutes.
Foul trouble became a huge story in the second half as Illinois star Kasparas Yakutsionis continued to sit on the bench due to foul trouble. He ended up fouling out after playing just nine minutes during the game, leaving the Illini without their best player for most of the day.
After the game, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood he was not satisfied with the trial in East Lansing, via Derek Piper of 247 Sports.
“If anyone here expected anything different … The MVP played 8 minutes,” Underwood said, according to Piper. “You saw a little bit of what he could do when he was in the game. Controlling the game with pick n rolls & passes. But he didn’t get to play today.”
Jacuzzi the fourth error is primary which Illinois fans will have trouble with. He picked up number four with just over 16 minutes to go in the game on a turnover where he didn’t appear to foul anyone, forcing him to sit on the bench for an extended period of time.
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After the game, even Michigan State coach Tom Izzo admitted that the mistake on Yakutionis had a huge impact on the game and in Illinois, according to Emmett Matasowski of Spartan Shadows.
“Brad Underwood is a good coach,” Izzo said, according to Matasowski. “It’s scary that they did it without Yakutsionis.” We still have some challenges to face.”
This is a painful loss for this Illinois basketball team, which now falls to 5-3 in conference play, while Michigan State remains undefeated against Big Ten competition. Now it will be very difficult for Illinois to come back and win the regular season title in the league, but it showed during the season that it will be difficult for everyone when March comes.
2025-01-19 23:01:00
