Illinois has reverted to midseason form in the NCAA Tournament

Back in December through early February, when Illinois went 12-0, the Illini were one of the top three-point shooting teams. They were out-rebounding teams by double-digits. They got as high as No. 5 in the AP Poll on Feb. 2.

Then, after the Michigan State loss in overtime, the Illini struggled down the stretch, going 4-4, losing three overtime games. including back-to-back OT losses to Michigan State (on the road) and Wisconsin (at home). In the overtime losses to Wisconsin and later to UCLA, the Illini blew double-digit leads. Then they had the same thing happen against Wisconsin again, this time in the Big Ten tournament. Despite all that, they secured a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

They have played like a No. 3 seed so far in two games, dispatching a good Penn team from the Ivy League, 105-70, scoring 65 points in the second half. David Mirkovic had a double-double, 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting, 4-of-7 from behind the arc, and he pulled down an Illinois tourney record 17 rebounds. It was his eighth double-double of the season moving ahead of Nick Anderson. He is the first Illinois player to record 20+ points and 15+ rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game since Anderson (24 points, 16 rebounds) in the 1989 Elite Eight vs. Syracuse (3/26/89). He also set an Illini record for most points by a freshman in a single game, set by Will Riley last season (22 points vs Xavier 3/21/25). Four other Illini were in double figures.

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The team shot well from the arc (50% for the game). They also exploited the inside, scoring 44 points in the paint! This was the more patient, looking for the “right matchup,” as Coach Underwood would later say, then exploiting it.

The Illini out-rebounded Penn 48-25, allowing Penn to grab only 7 offensive rebounds. The Illini had 20 offensive rebounds, resulting in 29 second-chance points.

The Illini (mostly Kylan Boswell) put on a fantastic defensive effort against Penn, holding scoring star TJ Power, averaging 16.8 PPG (he put up 44 points…

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Publish date : 2026-03-26 03:01:00

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