Three keys for Illinois to beat Iowa and advance to Final Four

Just how we all drew it up.

For Illinois to advance to its first Final Four in two decades and have a shot at a national championship, the team standing in its way will be the… Iowa Hawkeyes.

Yep.

We wouldn’t want it any other way.

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So what does Illinois — which opened as a 5.5-point favorite over the Hawkeyes, per FanDuel Sportsbook — have to do to win on Saturday night in Houston?

Make your free throws

Maybe it’s recency bias, but a big part of me right now is afraid to go to sleep because Illinois may miss more free throws in my dreams.

12-of-21 from the charity stripe isn’t going to win many games. Luckily, it didn’t burn the Illini on Thursday against the Cougars, but I could very much seeing another 57% performance coming back to bite them in the behind.

I don’t know how many more times they were going to say on the TBS broadcast that Illinois was the 11th-best free throw shooting team in the country this season, but I was getting nervous when Kylan Boswell missed three in a row late in the game.

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If you’re going to advance to the Final Four, you’ll need to make a few more free throws.

Shut down Bennett Stirtz

Iowa’s star guard may never hit the bench again (at least in this NCAA Tournament).

While he wasn’t the world’s biggest threat in the Hawkeyes’ upset win over No. 1 Florida, he’s been consistent, always being on the court through three games and scoring 20 in the win over Nebraska on Thursday.

Keaton Wagler showed some great poise on defense against Houston, even as Boswell found himself in foul trouble and struggling on offense and glued to the bench. It will definitely take a team effort once again to slow down Stirtz, but there is some precedent here.

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He only scored 12 points in Illinois’ win in Iowa City back in January.

Let’s do that again, and I think we’ll see another Illini win.

No 30-0 runs

Ya know, I swear if UCONN doesn’t go on a 30-0 run in the Elite Eight two years ago, then Illinois…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/three-keys-illinois-beat-iowa-050327675.html

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Publish date : 2026-03-27 05:03:00

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