The No. 3 Illinois men's basketball team hit the ground running, defeating their first two opponents by a combined 117 points.

These routs against outmatched Farleigh Dickinson and Penn squads didn't come as much of a surprise, even with the Illini down two key starters in David Mirkovic (foot, appendix) and Jake Davis (shoulder). Illinois has an immensely talented, well-coached unit that justifiable wears the No. 3 target on their backs.

The first big test will come on Tuesday night when they travel to Lubbock take on the No. 19 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders, who opened the season with two lopsided victories of their own over inferior opponents.

Ahead of this clash, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood some interesting comments about how he thinks other teams might try to attack them. More specifically, he was asked if he expects opponents to push the pace on him, to which he emphatically replied that he hopes they do.

“God, I pray every night that everybody wants to do that with us. Good luck," Underwood warned. "We're going to run and run and run… So, I hope people want to do that with us, and you know we practice it every single day, and we can do it for 40 minutes.”

So far this season, Penn leads all NCAA teams in possessions per game with the 88 that they generated in their 70-112 loss to Illinois. This figure represents a sizeable uptick from last season when the Quakers averaged 71.0 team possessions per game, suggesting they may have seen an opportunity to push the pace to their benefit on the Illini.

While this clearly did not work out in their favor, it is reasonable to assume that other teams could try a similar strategy to take down a team like Illinois that boasts strong half-court defense and is laden with shot creators both veteran and new.

Interestingly, Illinois' possessions per game are up as well, from 67.9 in 2025 to 82.0 through two games this season. This statistic is obviously skewed by the Penn matchup, but could also signal a shift in their overall pace, which Underwood seems to indicate would work in their favor this year.

A great motivator, Underwood clearly delivers this message to both his opponents and his players. If teams want to play fast, they can go ahead and try to, he says. But underneath this, there is a call to his guys to match intensity and be ready for each game. As a highly ranked group, there can be no letup despite entering most games as a large favorite.