Biggest matchup Illinois must exploit to take down UConn in Final Four

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Illinois basketball stormed through 2026 March Madness in surprise fashion. The Illini now has their fans envisioning a national title run on Saturday against UConn in the Final Four.

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Brad Underwood officially joins Bruce Weber as Illini coaches who guided a regional title run in the 2000s decade. Illinois had to overcome losing its top 10 ranking momentarily and facing a loaded Midwest regional before punching its Final Four ticket. That also included taking down last year’s title game runner-up Houston during the Sweet 16.

Underwood mentioned the “special” part involving him and Illinois after beating Iowa to seal their trip to Indianapolis.

“It’s always been a special place. There’s been no other thing for me. This is my dream job,” Underwood told reporters after cutting down the nets this past Saturday.

Clearly this run means everything to the 39-year coaching veteran Underwood. He envisioned this the moment the university tabbed him to lead the program back in 2017-18.

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His Illini are slight favorites to beat Connecticut by only 2.5-points per FanDuel Sportsbook. Here’s how they can exploit their weekend foe.

Illinois must counter UConn’s cross screens

Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

A big key here is watching where Tarris Reed Jr. is.

The center is UConn’s top scorer and will get his touches under the rim. And he opens a dangerous part of UConn’s offense without needing the basketball.

Head coach Dan Hurley turned to Reed as a screen option to create more spacing for the 3-point shooters.

Hurley’s cross screen approach swung the momentum back UConn’s way in the epic comeback over Duke. Underwood likely will address this Hurley tactic in practices this week. Fortunately for the Big Ten representative, Illinois presents plenty of bigs to counter Reed and company.

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