Following his team's 95-74 loss at Wisconsin on Tuesday, Illinois coach Brad Underwood got with Badgers coach Greg Gard and shut down the postgame handshake line. In his press conference, Underwood says he was looking out for the entire Wisconsin locker room.
The Fighting Illini have been battling two different viruses over the last few weeks with big man Tomislav Ivisic needing "two-and-a-half" IVs to play against the Badgers, according to Underwood. The Illinois coach just didn't want to risk giving his opponents that same illness.
"That's why I didn't want to shake hands with Greg and their group," Underwood said. "They need to stay as far away from this nonsense as they can."
Brad Underwood and Greg Gard meet at mid-court after the game and elect not to do full handshake lines.
— Glenn Kinley (@glenn_kinley) February 19, 2025
Not sure why, hopefully find out soon in postgame press conference. pic.twitter.com/qBeWXq0rzj
A clearly exasperated Underwood struggled to explain exactly why his team has been hit so hard by illness this season. Not only did the Illini deal with the flu, but a stomach bug has also been working its way around the team. Underwood struggled to come up with a solution to the team's health issues.
"We're obviously not washing our hands enough," Underwood said. "We obviously have to do a better job in our building. We're three weeks into this now, and we can't stop it. Maybe it's their apartments. I don't know if we need to put them in hotels. I don't have the answer. We went through a stretch. We gave them all Tamiflu. This is a different type because we did the fever, body ache with a couple guys. Now, this is the stomach and the other end."
As it struggles to get back to full health, Illinois has dropped its last two games and three of its last five. Things won't get any easier for the ill Illini this weekend as they have to visit New York for a showdown against No. 3 Duke at Madison Square Garden.
