The confetti rained down on the court as the No. 3 Illini hoisted the South Regional championship trophy on Saturday in Houston, moments after defeating the No. 9 Iowa Hawkeyes 71-59 in the Elite Eight. With the win, Illinois earned its first Final Four berth since 2005, cementing itself in the history books as one of the all-time great Illini rosters.
It was not an easy road for the Illini to get past the Hawkeyes, going down 12-2 to start the game. However, as it has shown in a gritty win over No. 2 Houston and demolitions of No. 14 Penn and No. 11 VCU, Illinois is not in this tournament to play around. The Illini celebrated the win hard, but they want to keep going – the door is still open for an elusive national championship.
“I don’t want anybody to think that this is it,” said junior wing Andrej Stojaković. “We didn’t get to the Final Four just to get there. We’re coming to win two more games, and we’ll take it one game at a time.”
Iowa blitzes Illinois early
Despite having the No. 1 offense in the country, Illinois was not able to get much going against Iowa in the first half. The Hawkeye defense was extremely tough on the perimeter, limiting the Illini’s ability to find good 3-point shots. The Illini shot just eight triples in the first 20 minutes and only cashed in on one.
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Iowa, on the other hand, was making shot after shot, compounding on the stops it got to build and keep an early lead. Iowa senior guard Bennett Stirtz was the X factor for his squad, scoring 15 points before halftime on 6 of 9 shooting, including 3 for 6 from deep. No matter who defended him, Stirtz could not miss, even with tough contests and a hand in his face.
“They got a great player in Bennett Stirtz,” said Illinois head coach Brad Underwood. “They threw the first punch. They bloodied us. Their physicality was very well-noted.”
With the pressure being so tough from Iowa, Illinois looked to work the ball inside, scoring 16 points in the paint. However, much of this was off isolation plays because Iowa’s pressure weakened Illinois’ ball movement. Stojaković was a spark off the bench, thriving in some isolation actions around the rim – he had 10 first-half points on 4 for 4 shooting.
Illinois was able to find some success on the offensive glass, which kept it within 4 points of Iowa at halftime. The Illini had 10 offensive boards in the opening half, to just one for the Hawkeyes, allowing them to score 9 more second chance points (11-2). Despite that, Iowa’s physicality was still a major challenge for Illinois. The Hawkeyes kept their early edge for the entirety of the first 20 minutes, not allowing the Illini to take the lead once.
Illinois owns paint, fights back
While the threes were still not prevalent for Illinois in the second half, it finally started to convert at a higher rate down low, while at the same time, limiting opportunities for Iowa under the rim.
Junior center Tomislav Ivišić came up big in the second half, despite fouling out. He came out aggressive around the rim, showing off his post moves that have been more present during this NCAA tournament run. He was a big part of Illinois outscoring Iowa 24-2 in the paint in the second half.
“I thought our physicality and our purpose in the start of the second half was really, really good,” Underwood said. “Then we kind of do what we’ve done, just find an offensive spurt or two, and (Ivišić) got a couple of back-to-back post-ups that gave us a more-than-a-one-possession lead, and then we got stops.”
The Illini started the second half on an 11-6 run and simply looked like they had more fight. No longer did they seem bothered by the Hawkeye defense, and that paid off. Freshman guard Keaton Wagler had a strong second half, following up a first half in which he was already Illinois’ leading scorer. 14 of his 25 points came in the final 20 minutes, leading the Illini’s charge on the offensive end and earning himself Most Outstanding Player honors in the South Region.
Defensively, Illinois held Iowa to just six makes in the second half, effectively eliminating any chance for Iowa to stay ahead. The Illini protected the paint well, forcing the Hawkeyes to take 18 of their 26 shot attempts from deep. Easy layups, as Underwood has preached all season, were prevented in favor of strongly contested threes, which Iowa couldn’t make when it needed to.
“Probably our lack of shooting caught up with us,” said Iowa head coach Ben McCollum. “I think that we couldn’t space it, and so when you can’t space it, you can’t get to the rim. So it just became a problem where we were having to take tough threes.”
Because Iowa missed so many more shots and was not already around the rim when taking them, Illinois was able to control the glass. The 20 rebounds Illinois got in the second half were key in preventing second chance buckets and limiting any opportunities for redemption.
“Very pleased with our rebounding,” Underwood said. “That’s one thing I felt like that they were doing at a much better rate than the first time we played them. Again, (freshman forward David Mirković) has 12 tonight and was dominant on that end.”
Slowing down Stirtz
After he had an extremely hot hand in the first half, slowing down Stirtz in the second half was a huge part of Illinois’ effort to pull ahead.
The Illini limited Stirtz to just two buckets in the second half and just 1 for 5 shooting from deep. Senior guard Kylan Boswell and Stojaković shared the defensive assignment and found a way to prevent a repeat of the offensive outburst they experienced in the first 20 minutes.
“He got going in the first, but he was hitting some tough ones in the beginning,” Boswell said. “He’s one of the better players I’ve had to guard. But at the end of the day, the whole thing was to make it tough. …I know that he was tired after the game. That’s just our goal. With players like that, you got to try your best to get them off the ball and just make everything tough.”
With Stirtz not making shots, Iowa struggled to find a secondary scorer that could carry the load he did in the first half. No Hawkeye had his level of pure shotmaking, allowing the Illini to get more stops late.
Final moments, a time to remember
Entering the final two minutes of play, the Illini had just a 4-point lead in what had been a dogfight for 38 minutes. However, Iowa was unable to score for the last 120 seconds, and Illinois capitalized, coming out with a ticket punched to Indianapolis.
Iowa was forced to foul after going down six with 1:40 left on the clock, and Illinois closed out the game at the charity stripe, knocking down all six of its free throws down the stretch. The smiles started to emerge on the players and coaches faces, as the Illini faithful inside Toyota Center started to realize that their team would advance after a grueling 40-minute battle.
“The last couple defensive rebounds that led to fouls and we got to the free throw line – it kind of settled into our heads that we’re going to do it,” Stojaković said. “No better feeling.”
Family and friends were all present for the Illini around the court following the game, including Stojaković’s parents, graduate student forward Ben Humrichous’ wife, former Illini Coleman Hawkins and many more.
“I came to (assistant coach Camryn Crocker), and he was telling me something, and I didn’t listen to him; I told him I’m on edge of my tears,” Mirković said. “I fought to stop all that emotion, but it was just bigger than me.”
While the Illini celebrated hard in Houston, students in Champaign were rowdy, climbing Alma Mater and mobbing Green Street by the thousands. The Illini players started to see the video in the locker room, as reporters and team managers pulled it up. That’s the kind of energy they love to see, especially after two decades since the last time Illinois made it this far in the postseason.
“I think that’s what makes college basketball so special,” Stojaković said. “Similar environment to Europe where you got fans doing whatever it takes. … I love that. Some people don’t like it, they think it’s not classy. But when people destruct things after wins, I’m a fan of. For our fanbase to get to experience this, I’m happy for them. 20-plus years since the Final Four, and I think this is the perfect group for them to celebrate for.”
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