INDIANAPOLIS — In its vast basketball history, Illinois Has continued to win national titles over the years.
The Fighting Illini’s Final Four appearance Saturday marked their sixth in program history, still falling short of a national title in men’s basketball. Only Houston, with seven Final Four appearances, has more players without a title.
And 3-seed Illinois bowed out of the NCAA Tournament after one 71-62 Loss to the second seeded player YukonThe gist of the defeat matches the program’s tortured high-level history at this stage – painfully close yet not close enough.
In a locker room filled with teary eyes and hushed voices, a frequent theme from Illinois players was the number of shots that danced to the rim but did not convert into points. The Illini shot just 6 of 26 from 3-point range, and the night was filled with shots that assistant coach Orlando Antigua called “toilet bowls” that went around and off the rim.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” the Illinois senior said. kylan boswell Said about the near miss. “I’ve personally never shot a layup, and they bounce in and out like they did today. But I mean, [stuff] It just happens. No one can make excuses, but at the end of the day they beat us.”
The Illini entered the game with the nation’s No. 2 most efficient offense, according to KenPom.com. But they were anything but efficient. Along with its struggles from 3-point range, Illinois shot just 13 of 30 from 2-point range.
“We fought, we fought, we fought, and had a very tough night shooting, especially at the rim,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “We missed some shots that we normally don’t miss. It’s part of the game. The ball’s got to go in.”
The Illini played well defensively, holding the Huskies to only 35.5% shooting from the field. But Underwood acknowledged that UConn protected him well.
“We’ve had the No. 1 offense in the country all year, and again, give credit to UConn,” Underwood said. “They forced some of those misses.”
Illinois’ history under Bruce Weber includes an epic title loss to North Carolina by five points in 2005, a two-point semifinal loss to eventual title winner Michigan in 1989, and two-point losses in the Final Four in 1951 and 1952.
The Illini used their geographic proximity to Indianapolis – about 130 miles – to garner the most impressive fan base in the Final Four. And that crowd came to life when Illinois went on a 10-0 run in the second half and cut UConn’s lead to four points with just under five minutes remaining.
The Huskies were held scoreless for nearly five minutes, and the Illini clawed their way back into the game thanks to consecutive free throws and a putback. Andrej Stojakovic.
But with the crowd involved and UConn’s offense slumping, Underwood called a 30-second timeout after Illinois scored, cutting the Illini’s deficit to four points. Antigua said the purpose of the timeout was to warn the Illini that UConn would punt the ball to advance. taris reed jrWhich till then had remained scoreless in the second half.
As expected, UConn made a play for Reed. alex karban Found him deep in the post with his defender sealed. Reed finished with his left hand, and the Huskies quickly scored again to push their lead to 61–53 with 4:08 remaining.
Illinois cut the lead to four points twice more – including Keaton Wagler3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining Braylon Mullins‘ 3-pointer – but never came close. UConn stayed calm and made the free throws.
Wagler finished with 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting, but was only 2-for-10 from 3-point range. Tomislav Ivicic He had 16 points but was only 4 of 11 from the field.
“I feel like we missed a lot of shots at the rim that we normally make,” Ivicic said. “I don’t know what else to call it other than misfortune.”
