It's been three days since Michigan State took down Illinois in one of the better Big Ten games of the season, 80-78, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. But Brad Underwood still isn't over it.
That's right, the Illinois head coach has been barking at the media for the past few days about his displeasure with officiating in Sunday's game. His star player, Kasparas Jakucionis, fouled out in just nine minutes of action which likely affected the outcome, but a couple of others stepped up big-time in his absence like Kylan Boswell and Will Riley.
Michigan State needed the full 40 minutes to get the job done and getting Jakucionis to foul out definitely helped. Yet Illinois fans, media members, and coaches are still talking about getting "robbed" by the officials in that game.
During his pre-Maryland press conference on Wednesday, the officiating got brought up once again (for some reason) and Underwood said that he's "in conversation with the league" about what took place in East Lansing. He claims they agree that the officiating wasn't good enough (not sure I believe that).
He said that "star players don't get those little, incidental things like that."
Brad Underwood on Kasparas Jakucinois' foul trouble at Michigan State: I've been in conversation with the league. They agree. I don't know what you do. The fifth one was probably a foul. ... Star players don't get those little, incidental things like that. #Illini
— Scott Richey (@srrichey) January 22, 2025
Interesting. So star players should get more favorable calls because they're star players? That doesn't sound like good officiating to me. It seems as if Underwood didn't want the "little, incidental things" to be called on his best players because they're too good to lose.
Basketball unfortunately doesn't work like that.
In my book, if you foul a guy, you get called for a foul. Jakucionis did that on four occasions. I will say that his foul on Carson Cooper was probably not worth whistling and I'd disagree with it, but the other four were fairly obvious. Can't bump a guy on the shot, can't put your hip into your opponent while they're dribbling up the floor, can't get into a guys landing zone with a trip, and can't hang on a guy's back while he's shooting. Four easy calls.
But hey, if Illinois wants to worry about the foul calls in East Lansing and let that haunt them for weeks, so be it. Michigan State will be focusing on competing for a Big Ten title.