Illinois basketball has been all over the place this season and was lacking a B1G win heading into a matchup against No. 14 Wisconsin Saturday afternoon.

The Fighting Illini took care of business at the State Farm Center, downing the Badgers 79-69 behind a combined 44 points from Terrence Shannon and Coleman Hawkins. Illinois, with wins over UCLA, Texas and now Wisconsin, has shown it can battle with anyone in the country despite possessing a 10-5 record.

Head coach Brad Underwood said the team needed that one desperately, too. He spoke with media following Illinois’ dominant performance.

Negative momentum is definitely  something teams as talented as Illinois can struggle with. And with role player point guard Skyy Clark leaving the program with personal issues, it would have been easy to drag and sulk a little against the Badgers Saturday.

Illinois has alternated wins and losses since Nov. 29. The next step for the Illini is to string together a winning streak, starting with Nebraska this coming Tuesday.

Underwood would like to see the team continue to keep trusting in their game and that only good things can come from it.