‘I just stay true to myself’

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PITTSBURGH — Andre Curbelo walked into the room with a chicken sandwich and took a bite as the first question of an NCAA-mandated press conference began. When asked a question, the Illinois sophomore point guard took the microphone off his stand and casually leaned back in his chair as if he were hanging out in his friend’s living room and not in front of dozens of reporters at the NCAA Tournament.

When he saw a reporter typing on his computer while simultaneously keeping eye contact with his teammates, Curbelo raised his hand, looked at the press conference moderator and asked if he could pose a question. He asked the reporter if he was typing without looking, the reporter answered in the affirmative, quipping to Curbelo, “just like one of your no-look passes.”

“Wow. Respect,” Curbelo said while tapping his head and nodding.

Curbelo often is the coolest person to walk into any room. He’s the epitome of self-confidence and swagger — no matter what is said about him by traditional media or strangers on social media.

Curbelo certainly is a bit of a wild child on the basketball court, a dynamo and flash of a point guard who makes highlight-reel passes and can get to any spot on the court he desires. But he also is a rollercoaster ride who can cause coaches and fans to pull their hair out when his aggression and emotion can get the best of him and cause head-shaking turnovers or shots off one foot.

Look on social media and Curbelo is among the most polarizing players in college basketball. But when you’re the coolest, most self-assured guy in the room, you act as if you pay them no mind.

“I just stay true to myself,” Curbelo said on Saturday, less than 24 hours before a Round of 32 game against No. 5 seed Houston on Sunday (11:10 am CT) at PPG Paints Arena. “I know who I am, I know the player I am, and I could really care less what people have to say. They’re just on social media, they’re never going to come up to my face and say it. I know the player I am, and I will continue to do my thing. That’s who I am. I risk — I take high-risk plays, and I feel like that’s what separates me from other guards maybe.”

Unquestionably, Illinois has been better on the court with Curbelo recently, including during Friday’s 54-53 nail-biting victory over No. 13 seed Chattanooga during which Illinois led for 25 seconds. While plus/minus can be a flawed stat in small samples, Illinois is a plus-35 with Curbelo on the court during the last five games. In Friday’s first-round win over Chattanooga, the Illini were an astounding plus-18 with Curbelo on the court. He helped ignite the Illini offense that scored just eight points during the first 12 minutes with five points and four assists during the first half to help shave a 14-point deficit to four during the first half.

But Curbelo in 30 minutes off the bench also had six turnovers that led to six Chattanooga points and missed six of his seven shot attempts with multiple forced, contested jumpers. This season, Curbelo — a Preseason All-Big Ten selection who missed 14 games with a concussion and two games with a COVID infection, is averaging 7.9 points on 33.8% shooting with almost as many turnovers (51) as assists (59).

Still, Illinois coach Brad Underwood seemed just fine living with Curbelo’s aggression given that he is pushing senior lead guard Trent Frazier to be more aggressive after an attempted Friday performance that included two points on 0-for-6 shooting.

“I want Dre to be aggressive, and I think one of the things that I more than a lot of people have a lot of trust in him is that he’s going to make the right decisions,” Underwood said. “He makes other players better. When you start looking at the plus/minus, you see our ball movement get better, you saw open opportunities.”

Yet, Curbelo’s greatest growth has come on defense, where on Friday he helped Illinois hold Chattanooga leading scorers Malachi Smith and David Jean-Baptiste to a combined 16 points on 6-for-31 shooting. Curbelo, a Preseason All-Big Ten selection, admitted he’s matured and is no longer too cool to play defense. He’s now one of the Illini’s most disruptive and reliable defenders.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played this much defense in my life,” Curbelo said. “I feel like this year kind of — back in Puerto Rico, no defense at all, and in high school, freshman, no defense, either. I just kind of had to work my way up. Last year I kind of did a little bit. But this year I’ve been taking that assignment a little bit more serious, and I’ve been talking about doing whatever it takes to win the ballgame. If that’s got to be straight defense and five points, six turnovers, I’m OK with that. Because at the end of the day, plus 18, I feel like the plus 18 came from the defensive side.”

Added Illinois coach Brad Underwood: “Well, if he wanted to play, he was going to have to learn to play defense. That’s one of the staples of our program. He’s an elite defender, an elite defender because he’s got unbelievable instincts. Last year at this time he was our leading rebounder in our last five games, he had 10 the other night against Indiana. He’s a guy that just has an unbelievable nose for the ball. He’s got great length. He’s got really, really strong and powerful hands, so when he gets his hand on a ball, it’s his. He’s just got a gift at that end. All we did was just push the button that says, you’re going to play hard and you’re going to do it. He does that.”

Curbelo unquestionably can hurt his team at times, especially when he hunts his own looks offensively. But on a team that otherwise looked attempted on Friday, the Illini unquestionably need Curbelo to continue to be self-assured and aggressive. Despite the Twitter takes — some fair, others not — that doesn’t sound like it’ll be a problem for the sophomore guard.

“Like everybody says, it’s sometimes good, sometimes bad,” Curbelo said. “But like I said, I’m going to stay true to myself and I’m going to continue to be who I am on and off the floor always.”

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