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The Illinois basketball team fell to Big Ten rival Wisconsin in blowout fashion on Tuesday in Madison. After the game, head coach Brad Underwood opted to have his team decline the postgame handshake ritual.
That decision had nothing to do with tensions on the court. Underwood was actually trying to keep the Badgers healthy with the postseason approaching.
The flu has been running rampant through the Illini locker room for weeks. Some players have been affected more than others, with Underwood noting on particular star has lost nearly 10 pounds.
“We have to do a better job in our building. We’re three weeks into this and we can’t stop it… I don’t have the answer. We went through a stretch and gave them all Tamiflu… Tomislav [Ivisic] lost seven pounds. He took 2.5 IVs today… We’ll do everything we possibly can.”
-Brad Underwood
Despite the illness, the team took the court on Tuesday. It lost 95-74, never leading in the second half.
After the game, Brad Underwood was weary of the sickness that’s overtaken his bunch. He didn’t want to pass it along to Wisconsin players.
The coach waved off postgame handshakes. He took his team straight to the locker room. Badgers leader Greg Gard didn’t seem to take much issue.
Brad Underwood and Greg Gard meet at mid-court after the game and elect not to do full handshake lines.
Not sure why, hopefully find out soon in postgame press conference. pic.twitter.com/qBeWXq0rzj
— Glenn Kinley (@glenn_kinley) February 19, 2025
While Underwood wouldn’t have his players take part in that showing of good sportsmanship, he did personally congratulate a few of Wisconsin’s team members after the fact.
#illini Brad Underwood to the Wisconsin Badgers
“Good game guys”
Applauded their veteran laden team. Compared them to Illinois last season, when they had Marcus Domask and Terrence Shannon Jr.
Underwood said experience is great to have. Wished the Badgers the best of luck to… pic.twitter.com/4KUpMxKiXQ
— Carson Gourdie (@GourdieReport) February 19, 2025
Illinois will now do its best to get healthy with a non-conference matchup against Duke looming. The Illini fell to 17-10 after the loss, which was the team’s second in a row. They’ll hope to finish the regular season strong with the NCAA Tournament approaching. Brad Underwood’s squad is listed as a six-seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology.