Illinois punches ticket to Final Four for 1st time in 21 years with 71-59 win over Iowa

HOUSTON — As Illinois fans screamed and clapped Saturday night at the Toyota Center, the hugging began. Illinois coach Brad Underwood and his assistants on the bench. Keaton Wagler, still holding the ball, and David Mirković. The rest of the Illini players joined in.

With a 71-59 win over Iowa in the South Region final of the NCAA Tournament, the Illini completed a task that hasn’t been done in 21 years — they made the Final Four.

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The Illini overcame a 10-point first-half deficit. They survived a five-minute stoppage in play because of an arena horn malfunction. They weathered a big performance from Iowa star guard Bennett Stirtz.

And now, they are headed to the Final Four for the first time since the 2005 run to the national championship game. It will be Illinois’ sixth Final Four appearance after also making it in 2005, 1989, 1952, 1951 and 1949.

Wagler had 25 points and three assists, and Andre Stojaković had 17 points and five rebounds to fuel the victory. Stirtz scored 24 points for Iowa.

Illinois entered the season with national championship hopes behind the returns of Kylan Boswell, Tomislav Ivišić, Ben Humrichous and Jake Davis and the additions of Andrej Stojaković, Wagler, Mirković and Zvonimir Ivišić.

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Even during the Illini’s stumbles along the way in the regular season — big losses to Connecticut and Michigan and a string of overtime losses in late February — Underwood reiterated his faith in his team to reach that goal. Now, Illinois is one of four teams to advance to the final weekend, two wins from the ultimate goal.

Illinois beat No. 14 seed Penn, No. 11 seed VCU, No. 2 seed Houston and the Hawkeyes in the NCAA Tournament to make it. They advance to next Saturday’s national semifinal in Indianapolis and will play the winner of the Duke-Connecticut game in the East Region final, which will be played Sunday.

The Illini victory ended an improbable NCAA Tournament run by No. 9 seed Iowa, which lost six of their final…

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Publish date : 2026-03-29 02:31:00

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