The regular season ended last Sunday for No. 13 Illinois men’s basketball, who improved to 23-8 overall and 14-6 against Big Ten opponents after its win over Iowa. The win locked down the Illini’s position at No. 2 in the conference, which meant an automatic bid to the Big Ten tournament’s quarterfinals.
Illinois did not know which team it would face until the end of a 5:30 p.m. meeting between Ohio State and Iowa the night before. In the regular season, the Illini faced off against the Buckeyes once and the Hawkeyes twice, combining for a 3-0 record and winning by an average of 11.3 points each time. Ultimately, Ohio State claimed a 12-point win to advance (90-78).
The Buckeyes are the only upset of the Big Ten tournament thus far and sit at No. 10 compared to the No. 7 Hawkeyes. The remaining quarterfinal matchups are identical to an eight-team bracket, with No. 1 Purdue facing No. 8 Michigan State, No. 3 Nebraska facing No. 6 Indiana and No. 4 Northwestern facing No. 5 Wisconsin.
If Illinois wins, it will play the winner of Nebraska and Indiana. Much like their preparation for the quarterfinals, the Illini were undefeated against both potential semifinalists in the regular season. However, the margin of victory was much tighter in both games as Illinois only beat Nebraska by three points in overtime and Indiana by eight in regulation.
Ahead of the tournament, three Illini were named to all-Big Ten teams. Fifth-year guard Terrence Shannon Jr. was named first-team all-Big Ten by coaches and media, standing out as the conference’s leading scorer at 21.6 points per game. Graduate student forward Marcus Domask joined Shannon on the coaches’ first team but was on the media’s second team. Domask averaged 16.0 points per game while tallying a team-high 3.5 assists per game. Senior forward Coleman Hawkins was on the media’s third team and was an honorable mention for the coaches thanks to team-high totals in steals (46) and blocks (29) while also nailing 39.2% of his three-pointers.
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Illinois is projected to be at No. 4 in the NCAA tournament. Although a deep run in the Big Ten tournament could slightly boost Illinois’ NCAA tournament seeding, head coach Brad Underwood said that the Illini are set on securing a Big Ten championship rather than focusing on how it will impact their seeding.
“Any time we’ve got an opportunity to compete, we’re trying to compete to cut nets down and win championships,” Underwood said. “This league is loaded, it’s terrific. Ohio State got very hot last year and made a deep run so anything can happen. You’ve just got to go play well. Selection Sunday is what it is. We’ll figure out where we’re at and where we’re going.”
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