Illinois outlasted Iowa State 72-69 on Thursday night and will take a „why not us“ attitude into its Elite Eight matchup against defending champion UConn.
BOSTON — The Illinois men’s basketball team is so experienced that many of its players wouldn’t get carded at a local dive bar. They are physical enough that their front line looks like it could be auditioning for linebacker spots at the NFL combine.
The Illini balance that age and edge with an offense that can hum like a jazz band, with flourishes of deft passes and cuts that have formed one of country’s most efficient and effective units.
That harmony manifested itself in a first-half burst on Thursday night and a closing kick that allowed No. 3 Illinois to outlast No. 2 Iowa State 72-69 in the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament on Saturday night.
Illinois solved the nation’s most efficient defense Saturday, jumping out with abandon in the opening minutes to build a 13-point lead and never relinquishing the lead to top Iowa State, which cut the lead to two three times in the final 10 minutes. Illinois scored the game’s first eight points and never flinched, enduring star Terrence Shannon Jr.’s second-half foul trouble and flummoxing Iowa State’s offense.
The spot in the Elite Eight continues Illinois‘ deepest NCAA tournament run since 2005, when the Illini lost in the national title game. And the Illini teased with enough potential against the Cyclones that they left fans at TD Garden wondering if they could prove a worthy foil to defending national champion UConn when they meet Saturday night with a spot in the Final Four on the line.
„We didn’t come here to win one game,“ Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. „We came here to win two.
