Keaton Wagler And Illinois Overpower Iowa To Reach First Final Four In 21 Years

Illinois is heading to nan Final Four for nan first clip successful 21 years, and Andrej Stojakovic made clear nan Fighting Illini person overmuch bigger goals.

“I don’t want anybody to deliberation this is it,” he said. “We didn’t get to nan Final Four conscionable to get there. We’re coming to triumph 2 much games.”

Freshman Keaton Wagler scored 25 points and Illinois ended Iowa’s underdog March Madness tally by dominating successful nan frontcourt, beating nan Hawkeyes 71-59 connected Saturday to extremity a Final Four drought that dated to 2005.

“It’s amended than I dreamt it would ever be,” coach Brad Underwood said. “Thirty-nine years successful nan business and that’s each I’m going to opportunity astir my broadside of this. This is astir these guys.”

This will beryllium nan sixth travel to nan Final Four for Illinois, who person ne'er won a nationalist title. The Illini will look either Duke aliases UConn adjacent play successful Indianapolis.

“This is what kids dream of,” said Wagler, who was named nan South Region’s Most Outstanding Player. “I cognize I dreamed of this erstwhile I was increasing up, playing successful nan Final Four, competing for a nationalist championship. To beryllium capable to do it pinch nan group astir me, teammates, coaches, fans, managers, everyone, it intends a batch ... but we’re not done yet.”

Underwood’s accent connected recruiting Eastern Europeans has paid disconnected successful this tournament. Tomislav Ivisic of Croatia, who stands 7ft 1in, and his 7ft 2in copy relative Zvonimir person shined successful March.

The overmuch taller Illini (28-8) outrebounded Iowa 38-21. David Mirkovic led nan measurement pinch 12 rebounds. Illinois besides outscored Iowa 40-12 successful nan paint.

“We were ascendant connected nan solid from nan first minute, moreover successful nan opening of nan game,” Tomislav Ivisic said. “They started nan crippled better, but rebounding kept america successful nan game.”

Stojakovic, who was calved successful Greece but whose begetter is Serbian three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic, scored 17 points for third-seeded Illinois. His dada watched proudly arsenic his boy punched his summons to nan Final Four, and Wagler’s parents – who met erstwhile they played hoops astatine a inferior assemblage successful Kansas – shouted wildly passim for their son.

“He gets astir apt not adjacent capable in installments for really reliable he is because he’s very unemotional and very stoic,” Underwood said of nan 19-year-old Wagler. “But he’s tougher than nails.”

Bennett Stirtz scored 24 points for nan ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (24-13), who knocked disconnected top-seeded Florida successful nan 2nd information arsenic portion of an awesome tally nether first-year coach Ben McCollum, a four-time Division II nationalist champion astatine Northwest Missouri State. Stirtz played for McCollum there, past followed him to Drake and yet Iowa.

The Illini went connected an 8-0 run, pinch 4 points from Tomislav Ivisic, to return a 58-51 lead pinch little than 5 minutes remaining.

Isaia Howard made 1 of 2 free throws for Iowa aft that, but an alley-oop dunk by Zvonimir Ivisic pushed nan lead to 60-52 pinch astir 4 minutes to go.

Sage Tate deed 4 consecutive free throws for Iowa to get nan Hawkeyes wrong 4 pinch 2 minutes to go. But Stojakovic added a layup for Illinois earlier Wagler made 2 free throws to make it 67-59.

“Our deficiency of shooting caught up pinch us,” McCollum said. “I deliberation that we couldn’t abstraction it, and truthful erstwhile you can’t abstraction it, you can’t get to nan rim. So it conscionable became a problem wherever we were having to return reliable threes.”

It was nan 2nd gathering this play for these Big Ten rivals. Illinois won 75-69 connected 11 January.

Illinois ne'er led successful nan first half but took its first lead conscionable aft halftime. There were a twelve lead changes earlier nan Illini pulled away.

The crippled was delayed for astir 10 minutes successful nan first half because of a buzzer malfunction that caused nan horn to blare nonstop for 7 minutes.

“Nothing I tin control. ... Just move on, move forward,” McCollum said. “It didn’t astir apt effect nan truth that we gave up 16 [offensive] boards.”

Along pinch Wagler, teammates Mirkovic and Stojakovic were besides named to nan all-tournament squad for nan region. Rounding retired nan squad were Stirtz and Nebraska’s Pryce Sandfort.

No 1 Arizona 79, No 2 Purdue 64

Arizona are headed backmost to nan Final Four for nan first clip successful 25 years aft nan top-seeded Wildcats sewage 20 points from freshman Koa Peat to hit Purdue 79-64 successful nan NCAA Tournament’s West Region last connected Saturday night.

After years of disappointment successful March, coach Tommy Lloyd has gotten Arizona (36-2) backmost to being a title contender acknowledgment to a talented freshman people led by Peat to spell on pinch veterans for illustration Big 12 Player of nan Year Jaden Bradley.

The Wildcats showed they tin triumph successful almost immoderate style. They utilized a astir flawless capacity connected discourtesy to hit Arkansas successful nan Sweet 16 and past unopen down 1 of nan nation’s astir businesslike offenses against second-seeded Purdue (30-9).

Arizona disappointment nan NCAA record-holder successful assists, Braden Smith, and prevented his chap four-year seniors Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer from getting into a rhythm. Purdue were held to its second-lowest constituent full of nan play and changeable conscionable 38% from nan field.

Arizona utilized an 16-3 tally early successful nan 2nd half to erase a seven-point halftime shortage and return a six-point lead connected a three-pointer from Anthony Dell’Orso. The Wildcats stayed successful power from there. Brayden Burries deed a three-pointer, and aft a turnover by Smith, Ivan Kharchenkov made a layup for an 11-point lead.

Peat put nan exclamation constituent connected nan triumph pinch dunk that made it 68-55 pinch little than six minutes remaining, sending nan Wildcats to Indianapolis adjacent week connected a 13-game winning streak.