Illinois men’s basketball fans made their way to Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday as the team participates in the Final Four semifinal for the first time in 21 years.
Illinois’ Brad Underwood coached for 26 years before landing his first Division I head coaching job. Now in Year 39, the well-traveled 62-year-old is finally heading to the Final Four, where the Fighting Illini meet UConn on Saturday. He’s doing it in what he’s long referred to as his dream job. In 2013 while in that
The Final Four is set. Illinois will face UConn and Michigan will take on Arizona next Saturday, with the winners squaring off two nights later for the national title.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students erupt with enthusiasm after the Men’s Basketball team defeats Iowa to go to the NCAA Final Four.
Players stood on the court ready to play for a couple of minutes before both teams started to warm up as the buzzer continued to sound. It was finally silenced, but then the main scoreboard and video screen that hangs over the middle of the court went dark.
Andrej Stojakovic scored 21 points and No. 3 Illinois beat 11th-seeded VCU 76-55 on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons under coach Brad Underwood.
David Mirkovic had 29 points and 17 rebounds, and No. 3 seed Illinois dominated No. 14 seed Penn 105-70 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Illinois will seek to advance beyond the first weekend of March Madness for a second straight year.
Marcus Domask scored 17 points for third-seeded Illinois.
Illinois reached a regional final for the fourth time in the past 40 years and will meet defending champion UConn on Saturday for a trip to the Final Four.
The Illini will play No. 2 seed Iowa State in an East Region semifinal in Boston on Thursday.
URBANA – The Fighting Illini men’s basketball team will travel to Pittsburgh to play the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Friday evening in the NCAA Tournament’s first round. The University of Illinois earned a number-4 seed in the South Region. The Mocs are the 13th seed after finishing first in the Southern Conference and winning their conference tournament.
INDIANAPOLIS — The dream is over for the Illinois men’s basketball team. A stifling, switching defense from Loyola-Chicago forced 17 Illinois turnovers, including 12 steals. Loyola guards double and triple-teamed Illini center Kofi Cockburn in the paint, and swarmed All-American guard Ayo Dosunmu at the point. Dosununmu was held to just nine points on 4-10 shooting
CHAMPAIGN – Champaign County health officials are urging caution ahead of the upcoming NCAA tournament, where the University of Illinois men’s basketball team will compete for the first time in eight years. With fans fired up from a series of recent wins, officials are worried that packed sports bars and watch parties could contribute to
INDIANAPOLIS — It took Brad Underwood 26 years to become an NCAA Division I head basketball coach. But he said he never doubted the time would come. On Sunday, after Illinois men’s basketball earned the Big Ten tournament title with a 91-88 win in overtime against Ohio State, Underwood reflected on his journey. “I had