HOUSTON — Illinois coach Brad Underwood has always believed that a team’s best player should have a green light. On Saturday, Illinois star Keaton Wagler certainly had it in his team’s 71-59 win over Iowa in the Elite Eight, scoring 25 points and sending the program to the Final Four for the first time in 21 years.
The Hawkeyes’ Cinderella run in the tournament came to an end. They were the lowest seed in Big Ten history to reach the Elite Eight, and they had not made it that far in 39 years.
This isn’t the first time Underwood has let his best players own the spotlight.
When Underwood was an assistant at Kansas State during the 2007-08 season, Michael Beasley led the nation in scoring. During his stint at Stephen F. Austin, Thomas Walkup was a two-time conference player of the year who averaged 18.1 points per game in his final season (2015-16). At Illinois, four players, including Kasparas Jakucionis last season, have been first-round picks in Underwood’s system.
Near the 12-minute mark Saturday, Wagler caused Iowa’s Isaia Howard to stumble and nearly fall after a spin move. He could only watch as Wagler drained a 3-pointer.
Later in the game, Wagler made a clutch floater with 4:51 to play to extend Illinois’ lead to seven points. He also made key free throws late.
Tomislav Ivisic made back-to-back shots in the paint to give Illinois some breathing room late in the game. With four minutes to play, Illinois had scored at a clip of 168 points per 100 possessions in the second half. That’s how good Illinois was Saturday night and, really, the entire season.
And Wagler was the captain of the ship.
But the second time in 72 hours, the Fighting Illini struggled in the first half.
On Thursday, they had to withstand Houston‘s run before halftime and needed a second-half charge to win. Against Iowa on Saturday, Illinois was down by double digits early in the game and couldn’t get into a rhythm.
The Illini didn’t score until the 16:17 mark of the first half, the second-longest scoreless stretch this season, per ESPN research. They were down by four points at halftime. But with 18:36 left, David Mirkovic made a free throw to give Illinois its first lead in the game.
Yet again, the Illini switched gears early in the second half to secure the team’s first trip to the Final Four since 2005, when it lost to North Carolina in the national title game.
Down 12-2 to start the game, Illinois couldn’t find a solution for Bennett Stirtz, the all-Big Ten second-team selection. In the first meeting between the two teams — a 75-69 Illinois win in January — Stirtz finished 5-for-17 with 12 points. In the rematch Saturday, Stirtz had 15 points by halftime and made six of his nine field goal attempts before the break.
Iowa coach Ben McCollum had slowed things down, which favored Iowa and limited one of the most productive offensive units in America. For most of the season, Illinois was ranked first in adjusted offensive efficiency.
Wagler, however, helped his team battle back in the second half, and the Illini defense held Stirtz to 2-for-6 shooting after halftime.
In the end, Illinois was all smiles as players hugged one another.
They’re still alive after another strong performance in the second half.
