Everything Brad Underwood said from the podium previewing Sweet 16 matchup against Iowa State

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Illinois coach Brad Underwood met with media on Wednesday at TD Garden to preview Thursday's 9:09 p.m. CT Sweet 16 matchup between No. 3 seed Illinois and No. 2 seed Iowa State.

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THE MODERATOR: Welcome, Coach. Opening statement, please.

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Obviously very excited to be here in Boston. We felt like we handled business. Took care of what we needed to take care of in Omaha. Two very good opponents.

I thought other than the start of the Morehead game, I thought we played pretty well. Now it's on to a very, very good Iowa State team. Obviously the No. 1 defense in college basketball. They do that for a reason. T.J. has done just an outstanding job of getting these guys to play so very hard. It's very impressive.

As a coach I watch their team, and I know what they emphasize. I know what they work on. You beat the No. 1 seed, Houston, twice. That's very, very impressive. Obviously winning the Big 12 Tournament, which was the No. 1 rated conference this year.

My hats off to Iowa State, to T.J., to that group, and they're led by two very, very good guards, very athletic, and a team that, like I said, obviously causes teams a lot of problems scoring.

We'll have to be very good, and excited for the opportunity.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you just talk to us about just makes you proud of the culture and just what makes this team so different?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Yeah, I think we've tried to establish a work ethic. We're a program of development. We say all the time we're every day guys. You see that throughout our building, on our shirts, on our gear.

To show up and have to work every single day to get better, to be accountable, to be responsible. That's only done by hard work and by a group of guys that want to put in that time and that want to buy into that. They've set standards for themselves that they want to achieve. Not goals. Standards.

This group is very mature and handled that. This group has been as fun a group as I have ever been around. They've added years to my coaching life. I know that. Just simply being along on the ride with them has made it fun.

They've adhered to everything we've tried to do and listened, and that makes it really enjoyable.

Q. Brad, as more eyes are pulled to your team during this run, do you see any issue with your leading scorer, who is a representation of this team and this university, not being available to the media?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: No. That's obviously a very serious situation. We're very well aware of that. I think that there's -- I think there's communication that he has to have with his legal counsel and so on and so forth to be aware of what's in his best interest and moving forward. We're going to adhere to that.

The university has put out their statements on those situations, and we're going to adhere to all that, and we're going play basketball and do it to the best of our ability and keep trying to win games.

Q. Coach, as you know, No. 1 offense against the No. 1 defense. What do you guys have to do against them to make sure that clash of strengths goes to your advantage?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Well, they're very good. They're going to play exceptionally hard. I'm not oblivious to think that we won't turn the ball over a few times. You've got to be very decisive in your decisions. You've got to be ball-tough.

They have two guys in their guards that do a great job of raking, taking it out of your hands. They're in constant rotation. You can't do the same thing every time. They'll set on it after a time or two.

Then you've got to try to avoid the pick-6's. Take the five-second count if you're in trouble, punt it 24 rows up into the stands. Just don't jump up in the air and throw it and let them get an uncontested layup that we can't defend on our end.

They're good, and then we've just got to be decisive in our decision-making.

Q. What was your reaction to the accusations and then your reaction to the court proceedings that allowed Terrence to come back?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: I've said many times I'm a college basketball coach. When we found out it was our athletic director Josh Whitman that informed me. Then it was to a decision that was made by the university, and then obviously taken to the courts, and I've said all along I was going to coach the guys I had in the locker room. I was going to be the best supporter of those guys that I coach every day. We had to find a way to flourish through those tough times.

Then when he came back and joined us, he was a part of our team again. He has always been a great teammate. We got him back, and here we sit today.

Q. I think part of the novelty of the tournament is getting to see your path, find out where you might be playing, what cities you get to go to. What's the excitement of playing in Boston, playing in a city like this where it's known for sports and being as iconic as it is and also getting to play on the Sweet 16 stage?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Well, I think there's a lot of things to that question. One, you're in the Sweet 16. You're in one of the premier sporting events in all the world.

Then you get to do it here in Boston, and all you have to do is look up at the rafters, and you're doing it in -- I don't know. You start looking up through, I don't know, '57 or '59 and all the consecutive World Championships and know what this city is about in terms of basketball. Larry Bird and Red Auerbach and Bill Russell, John Havlicek. You go right on down the list, and those are all names that are synonymous with the greats.

Yeah, it's great that it's here in Boston, it's in this iconic building and place, and it coincides with the fact the Celtics are really good again this year, but we're doing it in the Sweet 16. So really excited about all that.

Q. Obviously Iowa State puts a ton of pressure on the ball. How do you prepare for that this week in practice?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Well, we've got a pretty good one. Sencire Harris is a pretty good defender, so we get to see that.

But you don't. You can't replicate truly their athleticism. King, all those guys up front are so athletic and quick, but you talk about doing certain things and creating certain habits and being ball-tough, but we've got to apply all those things tomorrow.

I think we can -- with Dravyn and Sencire, we can get after the ball pretty good in practice, but it is different when you have size and length like that up front coming.

Q. Can you speak to the challenges of your coaching staff and also yourself with preparing for the Sweet 16 matchup and also navigating the transfer portal as well?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: Yeah, I spent all morning on the portal, believe it or not. I don't know. It's unfortunate timing I think. It is what it is. The calendar was put in place for a reason. I spent late into last night again on Iowa State and got up early this morning and prepped for practice and our workout today and then had to work on the portal.

We know what we're losing in terms of guys eligibility-wise. You're out making those calls. There's no rest in that. When the season is over, it gets amped up even more. I mean, there's no downtime. It is crank it up.

Our staff is working hard at that. We're paying attention daily to what's going on in the portal, and if you're not, you're probably falling behind.

Q. This year Alfonso Plummer on the Big Ten title team, why do you think it is that you've been able to get the most out of those guys? What is it about Illinois as a program that allows them to play their best basketball?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: I think we've been really honest with them. I don't think we've tried to identify -- I think we've tried very hard to identify high-character guys that fit. I think we've tried to find guys that have specific needs to what we're looking for.

Then it's been a great match. It's been a marriage that's worked both ways. I think when you're honest with guys, you're not telling them you're going to make him a lottery pick. When they're coming from wherever, you are honest with them and tell them how they fit and what the pieces are, there's no surprises.

We've got a great situation. We've had success, and I think there are people out there who want to be a part of that.

Q. Charlie Baker, the NCAA president, came out this morning advocating against prop betting on individual players in college athletics games and said they were going to move forward to try to make that illegal. I'm wondering as a coach if that's something you would support?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: 100 percent. We have competitive integrity, and I think that's the one thing that we can never jeopardize. I think in the Big Ten we've been very, very proactive in terms of putting out an injury report before games to help protect student-athletes and coaches. I'm a big fan of that.

I would hate to see the day where nobody jumps for the jump ball because of a prop bet. To me the greatness of college athletics is the competitive integrity that we have, and we should be able to keep that.

Q. Based on your comments there on integrity, how serious are point-shaving allegations across the sport, and in light of the Temple investigation, did that set off red flags for you and other coaches in the community there when that report came out a few weeks ago?

BRAD UNDERWOOD: I think you would be buried in a hole if you weren't paying attention to what goes on. I think speaking personally, we've got an athletic administration that has educated, worked as hard as they can work in helping us as coaches educate our student-athletes on it.

I think that it's real in terms of it's something that if you don't address it, shame on you. I think that's all we can do is keep talking about it, keep trying to educate our student-athletes on what's out there and what's surrounding them, but I know personally we do an incredible job of talking to our student-athletes about all those experiences.

You hate to hear when it happens, but again, we're going to do everything at the University of Illinois we can do to try to educate our people about it.