Illinois pulls away from Iowa late to reach first Final Four since 2005, end Hawkeyes&x27; NCAA tournament run Ryan YoungSun, March 29, 2026 at 1:52 AM UTC 1 Ben McCollum's dream run through the NCAA tournament is over. No. 3 Illinois finally pulled away from the Hawkeyes late in the second half on Saturday night in their Elite Eight matchup to grab a 7159 win at the Toyota Center in Houston. That officially secured the Illini their first trip to the Final Four since 2005, when they fell in the national title game to North Carolina. The Illini will now await either No. 1 Duke or No.
Illinois pulls away from Iowa late to reach first Final Four since 2005, end Hawkeyes' NCAA tournament run
Ryan YoungSun, March 29, 2026 at 1:52 AM UTC
1
Ben McCollum's dream run through the NCAA tournament is over.
No. 3 Illinois finally pulled away from the Hawkeyes late in the second half on Saturday night in their Elite Eight matchup to grab a 71-59 win at the Toyota Center in Houston. That officially secured the Illini their first trip to the Final Four since 2005, when they fell in the national title game to North Carolina.
The Illini will now await either No. 1 Duke or No. 2 UConn in the Final Four next weekend in Indianapolis.
Iowa survives horn delay in first half
The Hawkeyes came out right away and opened the game on a 12-2 run, which put Illinois down by its largest deficit of the tournament so far in the first few minutes of the contest. But the game came to a screeching halt midway through the period after the buzzer inside the Toyota Center wouldn't shut off.
Play stopped for 11 minutes in total, and both teams eventually came back out onto the floor running warmup drills while the buzzer annoyed fans throughout the Houston arena.
Eventually, officials got the horn to shut off. But that left one man on the scorer's table using an air horn for the rest of the game.
When play finally got going again, Iowa star Bennett Stirtz drilled a layup and then hit a 3-pointer right away to put the Hawkeyes back up by seven. Eventually, they took a 32-28 lead into the break. Stirtz had a game-high 15 points at halftime.
Advertisement
Illinois ends Iowa's run
While they looked unusually off in the first 20 minutes, the Illini finally shut Iowa down in the second half to pick up the win.
Illinois took its first lead of the game just minutes into the second half, after David Mirkovic converted an and-1 layup. While Iowa was getting absolutely worked on the glass, and made just three of its first nine field goal attempts in the second half, the Hawkeyes hung in there for a while. But eventually, Illinois finally pulled away.
The Illini used a 10-1 run capped by an alley-oop from Zvonimir Ivisic, and held Iowa without a made field goal for more than five minutes, to break open an eight-point lead.
While Iowa ended its dry spell — Isaiah Howard hit a 3-pointer on the other end after a timeout — it was too late. Illinois finally held onto its lead for good and rolled the rest of the way to the 12-point win. Iowa went just 1-of-13 from the floor since its last lead at 51-50. Illinois, meanwhile, ended the game making seven of its last nine shots. The Hawkeyes, for the first time all tournament, hit their wall.
Stirtz finished with 24 points for the Hawkeyes, who were playing in their first Elite Eight since 1987 in McCollum's first year running the program. As a No. 9 seed, they were the lowest-seeded Big Ten team to ever reach the Elite Eight, too. Tate Sage added 10 points off the bench, but they were the only two Hawkeyes in double figures. Iowa managed just 20 rebounds to Illinois' 35, too.
Keaton Wagler led Illinois with 25 points after he went 8-of-17 from the field in the win. Andrej Stojakovic added 17 points off the bench, and Tomislav Ivisic had 13 points.
Illinois has now won all four of its NCAA tournament games by double digits after a pair of blowouts to get it out of the first weekend. While it let Iowa hang around for longer than many may have expected, the Illini look very capable of securing not only their first ever national championship, but the Big Ten's first national title since 2000.
Source: "AOL Sports"
Source: Sports
Published: March 29, 2026 at 04:27PM on Source: RON MAG
#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle