Illinois rues missed shots after another Final Four loss

INDIANAPOLIS — In its extensive basketball history, Illinois has won one national title over the years.

The Fighting Illini’s Final Four appearance Saturday marked their sixth in program history, but they remain without a national title in men’s basketball. Only Houston, with seven Final Four appearances, has more without a title.

And while No. 3 seed Illinois exited the NCAA Tournament after a 71-62 loss to second-seeded UConn, the tenor of the loss fit the program’s tortured high-end history to this point — painfully close but not close enough.

In a locker room filled with wet eyes and low voices, the recurring theme among Illinois players was how many shots danced on the rim but didn’t turn into points. The Illini shot just 6 of 26 from 3-point range, and the night was filled with shots that assistant coach Orlando Antigua called “toilet bowls” that swirled around and off the rim.

“I’ve never seen that before,” Illinois senior Kylan Boswell said of the near misses. “Personally, I’ve never made layups, and they bounce like they did today. But I mean, [stuff] it just happens. I can’t make excuses, but today they beat us from start to finish.”

The Illini entered the game with the No. 2 most efficient offense in the country, according to KenPom.com. But they were anything but effective. Along with its struggles from 3-point range, Illinois also shot just 13 of 30 from 2-point range.

“We fought, we fought, we fought and we had a very tough shooting night, especially at the rim,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “We missed shots that we don’t usually miss. That’s part of this game. You have to get the ball in.”

The Illini played well defensively, limiting the Huskies to just 35.5 percent shooting from the field. But Underwood acknowledged that UConn guarded them well.

“We had the No. 1 offense in the country all year, and again, credit to UConn,” Underwood said. “They forced some of those misses.”

Illinois’ history includes a five-point loss in an epic title game to North Carolina in 2005 under Bruce Weber, a two-point semifinal loss to eventual title winner Michigan in 1989, and two two-point Final Four losses in 1951 and 1952.

The Illini used their geographic proximity to Indianapolis — nearly 130 miles — to flex the most dominant fan base in the Final Four. And that crowd roared as Illinois went on a 10-0 run in the second half to cut UConn’s lead to four points with just over five minutes left.

The Huskies went scoreless for nearly five minutes, and the Illini got back into the game thanks to a flurry of free throws and a putback from Andrej Stojakovic.

But with the crowd engaged and UConn’s offense flagging, Underwood called a 30-second timeout after an Illinois field goal cut the Illini deficit to four points. Antigua said the purpose of the timeout was to warn the Illini that UConn would be hitting the ball to star forward Tarris Reed Jr., who had been scoreless in the second half up to that point.

UConn set up a play for Reed, as expected, as Alex Karaban found him in the back of the post with his defender sealed. Reed finished with his left hand and the Huskies quickly scored again to extend their lead to 61-53 with 4:08 left.

Illinois cut the lead to four points twice – including Keaton Wagler’s 3-pointer with 44 seconds left that answered Braylon Mullins’ 3-pointer – but never got closer. UConn stayed calm and made its free throws.

Wagler finished with 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting, but was just 2-of-10 from 3-point range. Tomislav Ivisic had 16 points but finished just 4 of 11 from the field.

“I feel like we missed a lot of shots at the rim that we usually make,” Ivisic said. “I don’t know what else to call it other than bad luck.”