Illinois
What Tony Vitello Said After Tennessee's Series Opening Win Over Illinois | Rocky Top Insider
Tennessee baseball knocked off Illinois 6-3 on Friday night to earn a series opening victory in its final series before SEC play.
The Vols offensive exploded for four runs in the first two innings and withheld a Fighting Illini late inning rally to earn the win.
Following the victory, Tennessee coach Tony Vitello discussed AJ Causey’s strong start, Dylan Dreiling’s improvement and much more.
More From RTI: Strong Pitching Propels Tennessee To Series Opening Win Over Illinois
On what he saw from AJ Causey
“He was great in a few moments of adversity. It’s not easy to stand up there, obviously it affects what the ball is doing for a hitter when he hits it but when it’s that windy it’s not that easy to deal with. They took some good swings. They also battled a couple times. We did make some good plays defensively but there was also a play or two we didn’t make behind him. A couple moments where he wants to celebrate or his teammates want to celebrate getting a guy out and it doesn’t happen so you have to get right back to work. I think just kind of those blips on the radar screen of adversity were huge but there weren’t that many of them. Just blips sprinkled in amongst some really good pitching.”
On Causey potentially staying as a weekend starter
“I think the game will kind of dictate or give you the information of who you are as an individual and as a team and I think he already knew, and we did too, that he is fully capable of being a starter. It’s going to be a matter of what’s best for the team and sometimes stuff happens where a guy is sore or you use a guy in a certain situation or Thursday games— they start mixing those in. That’s when I think we first started (Garrett) Crochet one year, however it worked out. There will be different things that can happen but if we’re going to have the type of season we want to have, he’s going to need to start for us but also be willing to come in and get some guys out in a different situation as well.”
On if they value the Saturday starter spot more than some schools
“We’ve argued up in the office before and it is important. It’s in the middle of the weekend and the one game in front of you is the most important one but I think what you need is you’d like to have a guy that’s a solid starter on that day two deal where you know you can log some innings. It’s not a guy whose pitch count is going to jump up there real quick like some guys can. I’ve coached various guys and no one pops into mind immediately but some guy’s pitch count can jump real quick on you. But fortunately with Causey and Beam now, Causey is more of a ground ball guy and Beam has certainly done his thing for us. You’d like to think you know what you’re looking at with innings you have to cover out of the bullpen.”
On what a Friday starter ideally looks like
“A big leaguer. *Laughs* There’s been outliers but I think a Friday starter if you have a blueprint is someone that’s physical enough to withstand the grind of the entire season and he has quarterback type presence like Beam does and then you’d like a guy that has three pitches for a strike. And in our league you have to have big stuff. That doesn’t mean it has to be loud on the radar gun big stuff but you have to have something unique that you can throw at guys where it’s not an easy, repetitive look to pick up because there’s so much scouting info now and these hitters are obviously talented and strong.”
On Andrew Behnke
“I think all the days leading up to this one. He’s a hard worker, man. He’s in really good shape. He kind of had to fight for everything he’s gotten since he’s been here. We recruited him and wanted him to be here, but he hasn’ been handed anything. He was a guy last year, if you look back, I don’t know what his first appearance was, but he was one of those guys in the office, not disrespectfully, but confidently, sitting there saying ‘I want to pitch, and I can pitch.’ And again, the information we were getting with each time he got on the mound was that there’s this consistent improvement, and that certainly has carried on this year as well. So it is kind of fun to see the evolution of him as a pitcher. He has a great personality but it took us about a whole semester to figure out that he had one, because he does everything kind of quietly. I guess he is our sneak attack guy.”
On the resiliency of the team
“I think so. You have to have the ability to back it up, so fortunately we are surrounded by some guys that are highly skilled, but if something goes wrong, it’s either motivation or it’s a detriment to your body language, your thought process, the scoreboard, everything else. You do it enough times, and our guys have now collected a handful of them, you do it enough times it almost kind of becomes an automatic response. Kind of like, ‘This didn’t go well. Back out there.’ I know great defenses in football, it’s like a turnover on offense is almost a good thing. We get to be back out there and show what we can do and get another stop under, not just regular circumstances but adverse ones. So, hopefully those reps will keep piling up, but I really do think it kind of plays into the mindset thing. And we’re blessed with some leaders that I think know what works and what doesn’t. And they’ve veered in that direction of what works as of late.”
On what they stressed to Cal at the plate in the offseason
“I think there were just numerous talks, I don’t think there was any one talk. Just numerous talks about getting better and certain situations, how to attack, and then in here, bunch of different swings and he had a much better fall. I think part of it is just knowing what it all looks like, because he played at a great junior college and played at a high level and had success, but this is a little bit different. So, just knowing the landscape is the big thing, and then raising the standards a little bit in certain situations. It’s been a whole body of work, and I think that is still in progress, too. But the more he consistently does that, the more he shows guys who – I’m not doing their job for them – but it’d be a pretty good one to have around your pitchers, especially if he shows that he is swinging the bat better like he is right now.”
On differences seen in Dylan Dreiling from last year to this year
“More comfortable. He came in after the summer period. These freshmen now, I know in football they come in a semester early now, our guys get to come in the summer. They get to know Q [Quentin Eberhadt] and their eyes are opened pretty wide. When that happens, they get to know campus when Dylan [Dreiling] is playing for his family in a college league up there in Kansas – which is great for him. That’s great baseball, but I think he missed out on maybe getting settled in and comfortable here. Now, it’s totally different. He knows the coaching staff, his teammates and himself. Again, yet another guy that’s benefiting by knowing what the landscape looks like in Division I baseball and in our league. He has always had kind of the same swing with explosiveness. I would say maybe the more direct answer or immediate answer would be his physicality. He’s really gotten strong to the point where Q would maybe say it under his breath but grabbed us a few times in the fall and said that guy is getting pretty strong, and you can see it.”
On the top of the lineup coming together
“I think there’s always going to be availability to sneak in there. As much as you may think the door is closed as a pitcher or a hitter – and this could be in any program – it’s open if you keep working and you trust the process. That’s a cliché for a reason. But if you start complaining, get down or change things drastically or try and be Superman when you’re out there. If you just keep drilling like [Andrew] Behnke has, it will go in your favor. For some guys, it happens like [snaps fingers] real quick and others it’s a little more of a process. There’s available there and there’s some guys too that need to realize the coaches – right or wrong – I don’t know what our group ACT would be. I know what my minor contribution would be, but we got a little thing we are looking for. We are going off that more than the results. So, if you are constantly hitting it off the end of the bat, it kind of drives us crazy. Blake Burke probably got cheated on some at-bats his freshman year, but he was just running at the ball too quick. We don’t like seeing that and he finally camped down a little bit and started launching some balls as a freshman in a talented lineup. We are just kind of going off what makes us feel good….If Zakai [Zeigler] is guarding a guy defensively, you feel comfortable. So, that’s what we are looking for out of guys and I think there’s always going to be some variance in there. But we have started to figure out who is in that top four or five.”
Illinois
Brad Underwood finally mastered Illinois’ winning formula
Happy Friday, Illinois Land!
Instead of doing the usual column with post-Thanksgiving word puns involving side dishes and jokes about turkeys, I will use my time to point out a few things that I now know about college basketball in 2025, and the place that Illinois occupies inside of that stratosphere.
I will also discuss where Illinois fits into the landscape of the Big Ten. I think you’ll like how I see that unfolding. My pending Big Ten Analysis will highlight the lack of good depth in the conference.
It is not exactly a banner year for the Big Ten in men’s college basketball. To say the least.
Despite the fact that the Big Ten has dropped in the national landscape, and despite the fact that Illinois lost to a True Elite in 2025 against Alabama in Birmingham by double digits, it’s great beyond words to have a head basketball coach leading your program playing basketball the way it needs to be played at this present date.
Brad Underwood has turned Illinois into a National Program. Do not confuse this with being a national powerhouse.
As I see it, here are the five levels of Illinois basketball. National Championship Contender can replace Blue Blood for Illinois. There was no way for me to get in a shot at Indiana and its fans unless I constituted it this way.
For reference: Indiana is now No. 61 in KenPom (76 in OER, and 51 in DER). I was told that they are the conference favorite. I was also told Illinois cannot play defense. More on this in a bit.
- Conference Bottomfeeder (Year 1-2): 26-39 in his first two seasons, 11-27 in the Big Ten. I would call this 1990s Era coaching. Up the line, full court pressure, etc.
- Respected NCAA Tournament Team (Year 3+): This will be five-straight non-bubble NCAATs for Underwood, six if you count the COVID-19 cancellation of 2020.
- Big Ten Power (Year 3+): In turn, this makes you a Final Four contender on semi-annual basis, at a minimum. I don’t mean make a Final Four, but be a Top Four seed. No one believes that NC State had a better season than Illinois last year.
- National (and International) Program (Year 4+): Playing games on CBS on Thanksgiving by request, re-hiring arguably the country’s top assistant coach (Orlando Antigua), signing two potential lottery picks from two countries outside the United States. I could go on, but I won’t. You get it.
- Blue Blood (Never): This outdated term continues to keep Indiana fans from jumping off the nearest bridge for the last three-plus decades. Illinois will never be here. UCONN can’t get into the club with six National Championships since 1999.
Having said that, I’m going to say this.
John Calipari is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He has taken three different programs to the Final Four: Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky. He is an all-time great coach with a dazzling record (814-260, for a .758 winning percentage).
Calipari won an NCAA Tournament and cut down the nets in 2012, his third year in Lexington leading the Cats. He was outstanding at Kentucky (410-123), winning games at a .769 clip during his 15-year tenure.
He inexplicably missed the NCAA Tournament twice, going just 9-16 in 2021. His last three years, Kentucky lost 30 games and twice in the NCAAT to vastly inferior teams against No. 15 St. Peter’s and last year against No. 14 Oakland.
Please read the words I type. Do not create a false narrative around comparing Calipari and Underwood, in totality.
Underwood certainly has not had the career of Calipari — it’s not close — nor will he likely end up in the Hall of Fame anywhere outside of Champaign. Not impossible, but not likely.
Looking to the future, it’s clear which coach of the pair from the Thanksgiving matchup in Kansas City has the brighter future. This isn’t close, either.
While Underwood’s Illini blitzed Arkansas with a barrage of threes, high ball screens and floor spacing for play makers, Calipari and Kentu…Arkansas…had a plan “to attack the rim all game,” according to Calipari post-game.
Arkansas ATTEMPTED 17 threes. Illinois MADE 15. Illinois was +30 in in this category.
Frees (points at the free throw line) and threes (points behind the arc) is something I look at during every halftime, and after every game.
Illinois was +29 in this category. BU’s squad scored 90 points on the elite Arkansas defense, which was ranked No. 8 in KenPom DER prior to the contest.
The Illini had 60 of their 90 points (67.7%) of their points on Frees and Threes. Check on this stat every game that Underwood and Illinois play the entirety of the season. It will likely tell the story.
Factor in 2P% defense and you can get the winner of every game Illinois plays this year. The defensive strategy of Illinois is to defend the bucket and the arc. Despite giving a bucket full to Alabama in the lone loss (100-87), Illinois is currently No. 21 in DER.
Let’s take a look at pace of play, and how it affects efficiency, from a large scale perspective. What Illinois is doing is hard to copy.
For that matter, the Illinois offense is now No. 18 in OER (Offensive Efficiency Rating). Of the top 21 in DER on KenPom, Illinois has the FASTEST tempo, at No. 36.
In summary, Illinois plays in the Top 10% in pace of play and ranks even better in efficiency at both ends. It’s not only extremely difficult to do, but largely unnecessary.
When you play fast and efficient on offense, defense lessens in importance in direct correlation with how more efficient your offense can be. In short, play fast and good on offense and you outscore your opponent and win based on simple math.
Here are the avearages for defensive and offensive efficiency. The lower the number, the faster the pace.
Top 5 DERs in terms of pace average: 260.6
Top 5 OERs in terms of pace average: 66.8
Illinois pace of play: 36 (Top 21 in both DER and OER)
I know it’s a lot of numbers. I get it. Underwood has embraced the numbers game and turned Illinois from a Big Ten Bottomfeeder to a National Program.
You may not like it, but you’re gonna learn to love it.
Please take The Scientific Poll.
Poll
What is the win ceiling for Illinois men’s basketball in 2024-25?
This is threes and frees. This is creating space. This is the winning formula.
This is Illinois Basketball.
Illinois
Kasparas Jakucionis scores a season-best 23 points as Illinois tops No. 19 Arkansas
KANSAS CITY (AP) — Freshman Kasparas Jakucionis scored a season-high 23 points, Tomislav Ivisic had 21 points and 10 rebounds and Illinois beat No. 19 Arkansas 90-77 on Thursday in the Thanksgiving Hoops Showcase.
Jakucionis hit two free throws to give Illinois a double-digit lead with 3:49 remaining in the game. Arkansas had a turnover and a missed jumper on its next two possessions and Jakucionis hit an open 3-pointer to make it 85-71 at 2:42.
Kylan Boswell added 18 points for Illinois (6-1). Head coach Brad Underwood broke a tie with J. Craig Ruby (1922-36) for fifth place in program history with 149 wins.
Adou Thiero went 12 of 21 from the line and scored 26 points for Arkansas (5-2). Zvonimir Ivisic had 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks.
Takeaways
Tomislav Ivisic won the battle against his twin brother, Zvonimir. Along with his double-double, Tomislav Ivisic made 6 of 9 3-pointers and blocked three shots. The 7-foot-1 center, playing his first college season, had 13 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
Key moment
Illinois stated the game on a 21-6 run and maintained at least a nine-point lead the rest of the way. Ben Humrichous made the Illini’s fifth 3-pointer with 12:36 left in the first half while Arkansas was 3 of 9 from the field.
Key stat
Illinois made 55% of its shots in the first half, including 9 of 16 from 3-point range, while Arkansas was 0 for 7 from long distance and shot 44% overall. The Illini finished 15 of 31 from distance. Arkansas shot 5 of 17 beyond the arc.
Up next
Arkansas plays at Miami in the second SEC/ACC Challenge on Tuesday. Illinois plays at Northwestern on Dec. 6 to begin Big Ten play.
Illinois
Park Ridge, Illinois house left uninhabitable after fire
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