Illinois Preventing Illini males’s basketball has been reborn the final two seasons beneath Brad Underwood. The Illini went seven straight seasons with out an NCAA event, however lastly broke by way of final season with a Large Ten event championship and a No. 1 seed in March Insanity. Their run ended early when native rival Loyola-Chicago pulled off the spherical of 32 upset, leaving Illinois to regroup with out All-American guard Ayo Dosunmu as he jumped to the NBA.
The Illini began sluggish this yr with losses to Marquette and Cincinnati in Nov., however since then they’ve been one of many 20 or so greatest groups within the nation. Illinois finally gained a share of the Large Ten event title, and had a declare as probably the most balanced workforce within the convention.
The entered the NCAA event as a No. 4 seed. After such a disappointing loss final yr, it felt like Underwood was beneath some strain from the fanbase to point out his spectacular common season outcomes may translate to March.
For the primary 39 minutes in opposition to No. 13 seed Chattanooga on Friday, Illinois was getting ready to one other event catastrophe. Then with 46 seconds left in regulation, the Illini took their first lead of the evening. They held on for a 54-53 win to advance to the second spherical and a matchup with the winner of Houston/UAB.
The Chattanooga Mocs had the lead for the primary 39:14 of the sport …
However within the final 46 seconds, Illinois pulled off the win. It is their first tourney win after being down on the half since 1993 pic.twitter.com/ZPYiCtmA65
— SB Nation (@SBNation) March 19, 2022
Chattanooga gained the Southern within the common season and the convention event, however they nonetheless weren’t a extremely popular choose within the bracket with solely 16.6 p.c of individuals on ESPN selecting them to beat Illinois. It felt prefer it was destined it occur for a lot of the time on Friday, however finally Illinois’ superior dimension and expertise gained out.
The Mocs led by 4 factors at halftime, and opened up the result in 40-29 three minutes later. Illinois had a horrible taking pictures evening — 38.8 p.c from the sector, 3-of-17 from three, and 13-of-22 from the foul line — however senior guard Alfonso Plummer made all three of the workforce’s triples within the second half to assist lower into the deficit.
A layup from Kofi Cockburn put Illinois for the primary time all evening with 46 seconds left. Chattanooga instantly took the lead again with a pair of free throws, however Plummer drew a foul himself and put Illinois up one by hitting them each.
The Mocs had another probability, however their huge open remaining shot was simply off.
Right here’s how Illinois stole victory from the jaws of defeat.
The Illini protection stepped up late
A 3-pointer from Grant Ledford put Chattanooga up 51-46 with 4:46 left within the second half. The Mocs wouldn’t document one other discipline objective earlier than the tip of the sport.
Illinois’ protection began to lock down with the sport on the road. Cockburn had three blocks on the evening, none extra spectacular than this one.
Increase your hand when you didn’t know Cockburn had hops like that.
After Plummer’s free throws put Illinois up, Chattanooga had another probability. Coleman Hawkins made a terrific play to dam their layup try earlier than the Mocs finally recovered the ball and missed the buzzer-beater.
Chattanooga shot 32.3 p.c from the sector and 26.7 p.c from three within the loss. In addition they shot 50 p.c from the foul line, so possibly it wasn’t all in regards to the Illini protection.
Kofi Cockburn was efficient even when it wasn’t his greatest recreation
Cockburn was an All-American on Illinois’ No. 1 seed final yr who waffled on coming again for an additional yr earlier than finally returning. He was much more dominant this yr, averaging 21.1 factors and 10.6 rebounds per recreation whereas once more incomes All-American honors.
For pretty much as good as Cockburn is, he does have some shortcomings. He isn’t notably cell defensively, he’s a poor passer on offense, and he doesn’t have taking pictures vary in any respect (although 64 p.c from the foul line this yr counted as an enchancment).
Nonetheless, Cockburn is certifiably big at 7-foot, 290 kilos, and that was sufficient to present the Illini what they wanted.
Cockburn completed with 17 factors and 13 rebounds.
Illinois has to play higher in the event that they wish to attain the second weekend
This was not an encouraging efficiency from the Illini, however hey: a win is a win. March is all in regards to the skill to outlive and advance, and the Illini survived.
They higher step it up subsequent spherical or they’ll be going house. Underwood’s job is protected regardless, however the Illini actually need a Candy 16 journey to maintain the optimistic momentum in this system going, particularly when a lot of this workforce is predicted to be gone subsequent yr. Dropping to No. 13 seed Chattanooga would have been a serious bummer, however by some means, a way, Illinois superior.
