Cooley calls comment about Illinois ‘poor choice’

WASHINGTON — Georgetown coach Ed Cooley acknowledged he made a mistake for a derogatory comment he made about Illinois after his team beat Saint Francis at home earlier Saturday.

Cooley used colorful language to disparage Illinois when talking about junior guard Jayden Epps, who played his freshman season there.

“His development defensively, it’s almost like it’s a new player,” Cooley said of Epps after the Hoyas’ 82-65 victory.

He then made the comment about Illinois, without naming the school.

“I’m pretty sure that’ll make national news when I say that, but I never said the school it was,” he said.

Shortly afterward, he went on social media and acknowledged he erred.

“My comment today was said in jest with one of my players, but I admit it was a poor choice of words,” Cooley wrote. “I have the utmost respect for the University of Illinois, its men’s basketball program, coaches and players.”

Illini coach Brad Underwood, when asked about Cooley’s remarks, said he was more focused on upcoming opponents.

“That’s not even worth a waste of my time on,” Underwood said. “I don’t know what he was referencing that about, and Jayden had a productive freshman year here. But I’m not going to get into all that. I’ll let our fans and everybody else have some fun, which I’m sure they probably are.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.