Illinois is heading to the Final Four for the first time in 21 years, and Andrej Stojakovic made clear the Fighting Illini have much bigger goals.
“I don’t want anybody to think this is it,” he said. “We didn’t get to the Final Four just to get there. We’re coming to win two more games.”
Freshman Keaton Wagler scored 25 points and Illinois ended Iowa’s underdog March Madness run by dominating in the frontcourt, beating the Hawkeyes 71-59 on Saturday to end a Final Four drought that dated to 2005.
“It’s better than I dreamt it would ever be,” coach Brad Underwood said. “Thirty-nine years in the business and that’s all I’m going to say about my side of this. This is about these guys.”
This will be the sixth trip to the Final Four for Illinois, who have never won a national title. The Illini will face either Duke or UConn next weekend in Indianapolis.
“This is what kids dream of,” said Wagler, who was named the South Region’s Most Outstanding Player. “I know I dreamed of this when I was growing up, playing in the Final Four, competing for a national championship. To be able to do it with the people around me, teammates, coaches, fans, managers, everyone, it means a lot … but we’re not done yet.”
Underwood’s emphasis on recruiting Eastern Europeans has paid off in this tournament. Tomislav Ivisic of Croatia, who stands 7ft 1in, and his 7ft 2in twin brother Zvonimir have shined in March.
The much taller Illini (28-8) outrebounded Iowa 38-21. David Mirkovic led the way with 12 rebounds. Illinois also outscored Iowa 40-12 in the paint.
“We were dominant on the glass from the first minute, even in the beginning of the game,” Tomislav Ivisic said. “They started the game better, but rebounding kept us in the game.”
Stojakovic, who was born in Greece but whose father is Serbian three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic, scored 17 points for third-seeded Illinois. His dad watched proudly as his son punched his ticket to the Final Four, and Wagler’s parents – who met when they played basketball at a junior college in Kansas – cheered wildly throughout for their son.
“He gets probably not near enough credit for how tough he is because he’s very unemotional and very stoic,” Underwood said of the 19-year-old Wagler. “But he’s tougher than nails.”
Bennett Stirtz scored 24 points for the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (24-13), who knocked off top-seeded Florida in the second round as part of an impressive run under first-year coach Ben McCollum, a four-time Division II national champion at Northwest Missouri State. Stirtz played for McCollum there, then followed him to Drake and finally Iowa.
The Illini went on an 8-0 run, with four points from Tomislav Ivisic, to take a 58-51 lead with less than five minutes remaining.
Isaia Howard made one of two free throws for Iowa after that, but an alley-oop dunk by Zvonimir Ivisic pushed the lead to 60-52 with about four minutes to go.
Sage Tate hit four consecutive free throws for Iowa to get the Hawkeyes within four with two minutes to go. But Stojakovic added a layup for Illinois before Wagler made two free throws to make it 67-59.
“Our lack of shooting caught up with us,” McCollum said. “I think that we couldn’t space it, and so when you can’t space it, you can’t get to the rim. So it just became a problem where we were having to take tough threes.”
It was the second meeting this season for these Big Ten rivals. Illinois won 75-69 on 11 January.
Illinois never led in the first half but took its first lead just after halftime. There were a dozen lead changes before the Illini pulled away.
The game was delayed for about 10 minutes in the first half because of a buzzer malfunction that caused the horn to blare nonstop for seven minutes.
“Nothing I can control. … Just move on, move forward,” McCollum said. “It didn’t probably impact the fact that we gave up 16 [offensive] boards.”
Along with Wagler, teammates Mirkovic and Stojakovic were also named to the all-tournament team for the region. Rounding out the team were Stirtz and Nebraska’s Pryce Sandfort.
No. 1 Arizona 79, No. 2 Purdue 64
Arizona are headed back to the Final Four for the first time in 25 years after the top-seeded Wildcats got 20 points from freshman Koa Peat to beat Purdue 79-64 in the NCAA Tournament’s West Region final on Saturday night.
After years of disappointment in March, coach Tommy Lloyd has gotten Arizona (36-2) back to being a championship contender thanks to a talented freshman class led by Peat to go along with veterans like Big 12 Player of the Year Jaden Bradley.
The Wildcats showed they can win in almost any style. They used a nearly flawless performance on offense to beat Arkansas in the Sweet 16 and then shut down one of the nation’s most efficient offenses against second-seeded Purdue (30-9).
Arizona frustrated the NCAA record-holder in assists, Braden Smith, and prevented his fellow four-year seniors Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer from getting into a rhythm. Purdue were held to its second-lowest point total of the season and shot just 38% from the field.
Arizona used an 16-3 run early in the second half to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and take a six-point lead on a three-pointer from Anthony Dell’Orso. The Wildcats stayed in control from there. Brayden Burries hit a three-pointer, and after a turnover by Smith, Ivan Kharchenkov made a layup for an 11-point lead.
Peat put the exclamation point on the win with dunk that made it 68-55 with less than six minutes remaining, sending the Wildcats to Indianapolis next week on a 13-game winning streak.
