Brad Underwood unlocks extension, bonuses with Big Ten Tournament title win

Illinois coach Brad Underwood is set to capitalize financially on his team’s success in this year’s Big Ten Basketball Tournament, unlocking a number of bonuses.

According to USA TODAY’s Steve Berkowitz, Underwood will get $50,000 for winning the tournament title, as well as $50,000 for unlocking an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Perhaps more importantly, the automatic NCAA Tournament bid also triggers an automatic one-year contract extension for Underwood at his base salary rate of $5.3 million. It is fully guaranteed.

Brad Underwood’s contract will now take him through the 2029-30 season.

Illinois beat Wisconsin 93-87 to win a thoroughly entertaining Big Ten title game. Guard Terrance Shannon Jr., who was electric throughout the tournament, was once again instrumental in the win.

With the game tied a 85 with 1:29 to go, Shannon nailed a 3-pointer that put the Fighting Illini up for good. He later came up with a steal on the ensuing possession and was fouled, making both free throws to extend the lead to five. Illinois never trailed from that moment on as it closed things out.

Shannon finished with a game-high 34 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line. Much like he did earlier in the tournament, he made a living at the charity stripe. He finished 15-of-17 on free throws.

But the star guard wasn’t the only player to come up big for Brad Underwood in the Big Ten Tournament title game win, as Marcus Domask also finished with 26 points and eight rebounds. Illinois shot 52.6% in the game and had 14 assists compared to only nine turnovers.

The game was tightly contested from the start, with both teams trading leads in the early minutes. Shannon finished the first half with 15 points as Illinois took a narrow 41-40 lead into halftime. AJ Storr led the Badgers with 16 points in the half.

On3’s Chandler Vessels also contributed to this report.