Illinois big men rediscover their nastiness in advancing to the Sweet 16: ‘That’s a recipe to win for us’

The Illini weren’t nasty enough, didn’t give a s−−− enough, he said. He no longer had those complaints Saturday night after Illinois completed two blowout wins against Penn and VCU in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Whether it was their size advantage against the lower-seeded teams or Underwood’s challenge in the days after, the Illini, particularly their big men, showed the nastiness is still there.

“I think we’ve had them,” Underwood said. “I think they’re maybe just a little refocused on the importance of being that. And that’s going to have to continue throughout.

” The Illini have bigger challenges ahead against second-seeded Houston in the Sweet 16 in Houston on Thursday. They need to continue what they showed during their two games at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, including Saturday’s 76-55 win against VCU. Two nights after Illinois 6-foot-9 freshman David Mirković had 29 points and 17 rebounds, the latter an Illinois NCAA Tournament record, 7-1 center Tomislav Ivišić stepped up his play in the post with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

He and Mirković set the tone early against VCU with eight of Illinois’ first 11 points. Ivišić opened the scoring with an offensive rebound and putback and scored again a few minutes later on an alley-oop dunk on a feed from Mirković. “Especially after the last game, everybody knew they were going to be a little bit more focused on him, it maybe opened the paint a little bit more for me,” Ivišić said.