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Brad Underwood emotional over Illinois’ Final Four loss: ‘They are my life’

SDF StaffBy

Illinois coach Brad Underwood stole a quote from Houston coach Kelvin Sampson after the Fighting Illini’s Final Four loss to UConn.

Sampson, one of the greatest coaches to never have won a national championship, knows a thing or two about March Madness heartbreak, which is exactly what Underwood was feeling after Illinois’ 71-62 loss on Saturday, April 4, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

REQUIRED READING: Braylon Mullins keeps hitting big shots for UConn in Final Four win

“I feel sad,” Underwood told reporters after the game. “I’m sad. If you want to know the truth, I’m sad. But I’ll reflect on some of the other stuff later. Seasons coming to an end sting. I’m going to steal a quote from Kelvin Sampson: ‘I may not be as big a part of their life, but they are my life.'”

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Illinois vs UConn, title‑game pressure. See photos

Andrej Stojakovic #2 of the Illinois Fighting Illini drives to the basket against Solo Ball #1 of the UConn Huskies in the first half of the Final Four of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 04, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Illinois had beaten every team it faced in the 2026 Men’s NCAA Tournament by double-digits until facing the Huskies, who have given the Illini fits in recent years. Illinois’ three-lowest scoring outputs of the past three seasons all came against UConn, scoring 52 points in 2024’s Elite Eight loss, 61 points in a nonconference game this season and 62 in its Final Four loss on April 4.

UConn denied passing lanes all night and made things difficult for Illinois’ potent offense, limiting the Illini to only three assists as a team, two of which came from star true freshman Keaton Wagler, who also scored 20 points with eight rebounds.

Underwood took the road less traveled to Illinois as the head coach at Dodge City Community College in Kansas and Daytona Beach Community College in Florida before becoming a multi-year assistant at Kansas State and South Carolina. He got his Division I coaching start at Stephen F. Austin and parlayed a one-year Oklahoma State stint into his current role at Illinois.

The 62-year-old coach didn’t take Illinois’ run back to the Final Four for the first time since 2005 lightly, especially given his career path.

“If you guys don’t know me, I’m about relationships,” Underwood said. “If anybody remembers me for wins and losses, then I didn’t do a very good job as a human being. The one thing this did for me was bring a lot of people who I haven’t talked to reached out, and there’s a lot of people here supporting me and my family.

“That’s what this experience is about for me. For that group of guys in there, that’s a lifetime memory, and I couldn’t be more excited about that.”

Underwood didn’t spend much time discussing what went wrong for Illinois after the game, although he did note the Fighting Illini’s poor shooting night, as they shot 34% from the field and 23% from 3-point range.

He did make an emphasis, though, on giving his 2025-26 roster their flowers after an impressive season that came up short.

“Am I competitive? Does today stink? It hurts. My gut hurts so bad right now, I feel for all of them,” Underwood said. “But I’m also excited about the joy that we brought a lot of people in this run. And we got Illinois back to a level where they’re in Final Fours again.

“By God, as long as I’m ball coach, I better not take 21 (expletive) years to get back there.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brad Underwood emotional after Illinois’ Final Four loss vs UConn

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