Myron Medcalf
Multiple Authors
HOUSTON — Illinois coach Brad Underwood has always believed that a team’s best player should have the 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 win ended Iowa’s run in what had become the Cinderella story of the NCAA tournament. The Hawkeyes were the lowest seed in Big Ten history to reach the Elite Eight and they had not made it that far in 39 years.
History was on the line for Illinois, too. Wagler helped his team get the win so they could experience it.
Wagler is the most recent recipient of Underwood’s willingness to let his best players own the spotlight in the most important moments of a season.
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 Kasaparas Jakucionis last season, have been first-round picks in Underwood’s system.
Near the 12-minute mark on Saturday, Wagler dribbled and spun. While defending the projected lottery pick, Iowa’s Isaia Howard stumbled and nearly fell. 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 made key free throws late, too.
Along with those plays, 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. For perspective, the Golden State Warriors led by Kevin Durant and Steph Curry during the 2016-17 season had an offensive rating of 114.8 points per 100 possessions. That’s how good Illinois was on Saturday night and, really, the entire year.
Wagler was the captain of the ship.
But there were no guarantees early in the game.
For the second time in 72 hours, Illinois didn’t have any answers at first.
On Thursday, they couldn’t hold off a furious comeback in the first half by Houston and needed a second-half run to change their fortunes and win. Against Iowa on Saturday in the Elite Eight, Illinois was down by double digits early in the game and couldn’t get into a rhythm.
Illinois didn’t score until the 16:17 mark of the first half, the second-longest stretch without a point of the season, per ESPN research. They were down by four points at halftime. But with 18:36 left, however, David Mirkovic made a free throw to give Illinois its first lead in the game.
Yet again, they 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 on Saturday, albeit with higher stakes, 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 and played at the methodical pace, 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.
It was Wagler, however, who helped his team battle back in the second half and a defense that held Stirtz to a 2-for-6 clip after halftime.
At the end, Illinois was all smiles as players hugged one another.
They’re still alive after another strong performance in the second half.
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