I’m nonetheless in shock, however the Illinois basketball crew is heading to the Final 4.
The Illini got here into the sport and appeared horrible early on. We acquired right into a double-digit gap. Slowly however absolutely, we began to dig out. We chipped away at Iowa’s lead, and we have been solely down 4 at halftime.
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Illinois saved the sport shut for the first 10 minutes of the second half. At that time, a change was flipped. The Illini went into a unique mode and took over. Iowa could not deal with Illinois’ relentless stress, and so they folded with out many scoring choices. This enabled the Illini to beat Iowa, 71-59.
Here are 5 incredible observations from the Illinois basketball win over Iowa
1. Andrej Stojakovic set the tone for Illinois
Just whenever you assume Andrej Stojakovic could not play protection, he has certainly one of the finest defensive performances I can keep in mind an Illinois participant having in a very long time.
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Stojakovic was superb off the bench for the Illini. We began so slowly, letting Iowa get out to a 12-2 lead, however Stojakovic was the one who set the tone.
Offensively, he was so aggressive towards Iowa. Stojakovic was taking it to the rim on almost each drive. He did not accept three-point makes an attempt. His capability to get Iowa on their heels was large for Illinois’ confidence.
I used to be amazed by Stojakovic’s protection, too. He has been so dangerous all season lengthy, and even Stan Van Gundy talked about that on the broadcast. Instead of folding like an inexpensive garden chair, Stojakovic got here up large.
Stojakovic had a giant steal, and he was capable of lock down different Iowa shooters to place them in a drought late in the contest. He was the MVP of this sport, and Illinois needed to have him come up massive.
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2. What a spot for Keaton Wagler
It is superb {that a} true freshman can come into the Illinois program, gentle the world on fireplace, and now lead us to the Final 4.
I did not assume a Final 4 was going to occur coming into the season, however Wagler has been the spine of this program. He went into an Elite 8 and gave all Illinois followers an evening to recollect.
Wagler completed the contest with 25 factors, three assists, two rebounds, and one steal on 8-of-17 capturing from the subject and 2-of-7 from three-point vary. He was additionally an ideal 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
When Illinois wanted a bucket, or we needed to get some momentum going, Wagler was all the time there. All the Illini wanted was Wagler to be the Wagler he has been all season lengthy.
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A real freshman simply led the Orange and Blue to the Final 4. This has been the most incredible season in program historical past.
3. Illinois was dominant in the rebounding division
All season lengthy, I’ve been harping on Illinois for not realizing how massive we have been and the way we did not use our measurement to our benefit.
On Saturday night time, Iowa felt the wrath of the Illini measurement. We threw each inch of measurement at them, and it culminated in an enormous rebounding margin.
Illinois ended the sport knocking down 38 rebounds to simply 21 rebounds for the Hawkeyes. For these counting at him, that could be a 17-rebound margin in favor of the Illini.
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What is much more astonishing is the proven fact that Illinois pulled down 16 offensive rebounds. Let that soak in for a second. If we solely counted offensive rebounds, Illinois would have solely misplaced the rebounding battle 21-16. That is a wild stat.
This was certainly one of the finest rebounding performances I’ve seen from Illinois all season. We could not let Iowa have any additional possessions, and our measurement actually hindered them significantly.
4. It is insane Illinois can shoot that badly from 3-point vary and advance
Coming into the sport towards Iowa, I might have figured Illinois wanted to shoot no less than 30% from three-point vary to have an opportunity. The Hawkeyes can gentle up the scoreboard, and we shoot a whole lot of three-pointers.
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Well, Illinois got here in and laid an egg in the three-point division. We shot 3-of-17 from deep towards Iowa. The 17.6% from three-point vary was the lowest of the season for the program. The second-lowest shooting percentage was towards UConn, which we may face in the Final 4.
What is loopy about Illinois’ poor three-point capturing is that we did not deal with capturing from deep. We solely took 17 three-point makes an attempt, which is the second-lowest of the season, tallying yet another than in the sport towards Long Island.
Iowa clearly had a sport plan to remove the three-point arc. While that labored, in addition they forgot that Illinois has some monsters who can play back-to-the-basket.
There have been a number of occasions that Tomislav Ivisic impressed me along with his massive man abilities. He was nice in the paint. Mirkovic and Stojakovic additionally attacked the inside of the Iowa protection. This was an awesome adjustment by Brad Underwood and the Illini.
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5. David Mirkovic was a monster all sport lengthy
I ended the final part mentioning Mirkovic. He has been Illinois’ rock the previous couple of video games in the NCAA match, and he continued to be large for the program on Saturday night time.
Mirkovic did not have his finest scoring night time, going for 9 factors, 12 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block on 3-of-9 capturing from the subject. But his child is far more essential than making buckets.
I used to be amazed by Mirkovic’s capability to get into the lane and trigger chaos. He is such an excellent passer when the protection breaks down. His capability to plow right into a crowd for a rebound is phenomenal, too.
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Illinois would not go with out Mirkovic. He has been such an essential piece to the run we’re on. Mirkovic goes to finish up taking place as certainly one of the finest gamers in program historical past. He has been superb, and the journey continues.
This article was initially printed on www.writingillini.com as 5 incredible observations from the Illinois basketball win over Iowa.