Illini confident as they prepare to face Xavier in NCAA Tournament
The No. 6-seeded Fighting Illini can now sharpen their focus on their NCAA Tournament opener, knowing whom they'll face in the first round.
On Friday night, they will take on a gritty and grizzled Xavier team, which rallied from being down double digits to knock off Texas in their first-four matchup in Dayton, Ohio, Wednesday night.
After a season of growing pains with Illinois with a young roster, Illinois will have to deal with an extremely experienced Xavier team. The Musketeers have eight graduate students who are in their 20s and likely don't even get carded in the liquor store anymore — playing their fifth and even sixth year of college basketball.
"Good way to think about it, all of our guys get carded," said Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood. "But yeah, Sean [Miller] is a great coach. They've played for a few weeks for their life, and been very, very good. They remind me a lot of Wisconsin."
The Illini are not intimidated by the fact that Xavier is such an experienced team.
"They're a good team for sure. They're very experienced. But I feel like we've got a lot of experience as well," said Illinois forward Will Riley.
"Our main focus coming out for me personally is like focus on our mentality with our energy — defensively at least," said Illinois guard Kylan Boswell.
One advantage Illinois is expecting to have is a lot of orange and blue in the stands at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee — being so close to home as they are. Xavier University is located in Cincinnati.
This is the fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance for the Illini. But the bright lights of the Big Dance are a brand-new experience for talented international freshmen like Riley and Kasparas Jakucionis — who didn't grow up mesmerized by March Madness.
"I watched it briefly. I wouldn't say it was something that we watched a lot," said Riley, who grew up in Canada. "Pretty new, but you know, it's a pretty big deal, so I'm super-excited for it."
"I was in Lithuania. I was watching more Lithuanian basketball. Then I moved to Spain — I started watching more European basketball," said Jakucionis, who added that he "of course" knows the magnitude of the NCAA Tournament.
Boswell, a junior and one of only three Illini players on the active roster with NCAA Tourney experience, is urging the newbies to embrace the moment but also have a sense of urgency — because it's one-and-done with the next loss.
With Illinois, Coach Underwood is 3-1 in first-round games for the NCAA Tournament, and 5-4 overall in the tourney.
With a win Friday, he'll tie Bruce Weber with six victories — the second most in Illini history. That figure is only topped by Lou Henson's 12 NCAA Tournament wins.
Xavier's Miller, who has 21 career victories in the NCAA Tournament.
The Illinois-Xavier game is set for 8:45 p.m. Friday, and will be shown on CBS.
