A historic NCAA tournament run came to an end for Illinois men’s basketball on Saturday night, when it bowed out of the competition just three games shy of a national championship. However, the No. 3 Illini met their match, falling to the No. 1 UConn Huskies in the NCAA East Regional Final.
Illinois’ first Elite Eight appearance since 2005 saw head coach Brad Underwood utilize his consistent starting five of fifth-year guard Terrence Shannon Jr., sophomore guard Ty Rodgers, graduate student forwards Marcus Domask and Quincy Guerrier and senior forward Coleman Hawkins.
Play was off to a rough start for the Illini after they lost the opening tipoff, as the Huskies wasted no time in rising to an early 9-0 start. Careless turnovers and missed shots from the free-throw line plagued Illinois’ game during the opening five minutes. It took the Illini four minutes to get on the board while the Huskies dominated the paint. Domask ended the drought after shooting 1-2 from the line before Guerrier brought the Illini within two possessions and scored a two-handed slam shortly after.
UConn’s red-hot scoring rapidly slowed as Illinois began to heat up on the defensive end. Following multiple consecutive stops and an offensive resurgence led by Domask, the Illini found themselves only trailing 15-13 with 10:57 left in the first half.
The tenacious defense allowed Illinois to stay within a single possession of UConn throughout the remainder of the first half. With 1:51 to go, a jumper made by Domask leveled the contest tied at 23 points. However, the Huskies managed to recover and put together a strong conclusion to the half to lead 28-23.
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Domask was the most impactful piece of Underwood’s squad during the opening 20 minutes — he headed into the break with a team-high 15 points.
However, disaster struck as the dogfight transformed into a slugfest in the second half. In eerily similar fashion to the start of the game, Illinois endured an even worse start as UConn went on a 25-0 scoring run. The momentum the Illini had garnered to keep the game close was now well and truly lost, with the Huskies maintaining a 20-plus point gap during the remainder of the period.
It took Illinois until the 12:39 mark to get on the board after a layup from graduate student guard Justin Harmon. By that point, however, the contest was already well out of reach.
The Illini never got back into their groove as the Huskies continued to rise on the scoreboard. By the final buzzer, Underwood’s squad found itself on the wrong end of a 77-52 scoreline.
While Illinois’ greatest NCAA tournament run in recent years has now concluded, the 2023-24 season brought a plethora of memorable moments with 29 wins. In addition to their Elite Eight appearance, the Illini came in second place in the Big Ten regular season standings, and most notably, brought home another lucrative Big Ten tournament title to the State Farm Center.
With that, another exciting season of college basketball comes to a close in Champaign.
@james_kim15
