Let’s just be a little bit better on Sunday, please!

I’m not going to complain. I am DEFINITELY not going to complain about the second NCAA Tournament win by the Illinois Fighting Illini in the past decade.

How miserable of a fan would I have to be to complain about such a win — a win that involved less than 30 seconds of owning the lead against a team from the SoCon?

I’m not that fan! So I’m just going to politely ask — with Jarling’s custard and a cherry on top — let’s just be a little, teensy bit better on Sunday, please!

See, I said please! That was polite!

Instead of commenting on the 25 second-half points scored by one of the most impressive offensive teams in the nation, I'm going to focus on the stout defensive effort! Twenty second-half points allowed! Wow!

And who needs too focus on the 59.1% free throw shooting, when we can just focus on the two made free throws by Alfonso Plummer at the end of the game? Who cares that if they made a couple more of their first 20 at the charity stripe then this wouldn’t have been such nail biter! Plummer was clutch and made them when it mattered!

Oh, and the three-pointers? They made three (out of 17) of them! That’s more than two! And more than one! And, hey, at least they made a three-pointer!

I can’t spin the turnovers in a positive way, so I’m not going to try.

So, yeah, it wasn’t a beautiful game of basketball, but it was a win! And there will be another game now on Sunday.

When we get back on the court on Sunday, please — pretty please with extra cheese on my Papa Del’s pizza — play just a little bit better. My heart (and voice) can’t take whatever that was tonight.