No. 11 Illinois knows the postseason awaits despite squandering an opportunity to keep No. 3 Michigan from clinching the Big Ten regular-season title with Friday’s home loss.
As the Fighting Illini prepare for Oregon’s visit to Champaign, Ill., on Tuesday night, some recent NCAA tournament projections pegged Illinois as high as a second seed.
A 14-point loss to the Wolverines doesn’t exactly go with that billing, however. To get there, Fighting Illini coach Brad Underwood knows his team must be tougher.
“I thought the physical punch, the physical fight of the game … (Michigan) brought it to us better than we brought it to them,” Underwood said. “Usually, that means the outcome that was there.
“They’ve got us as a (No. 2) seed. To beat a (No. 1), that physicality, that nastiness, that grit, that fight … that’s on me. That’s not on them. That’s on me. I’ve got to do a much better job of getting us much nastier in those situations.”
Illinois (22-7, 13-5 Big Ten) has lost consecutive games for the second time in three weeks. Friday’s defeat marked the only time in that span that the Illini didn’t lose in overtime.
Freshman standout Keaton Wagler paced Illinois with 23 points and David Mirkovic had a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Still, Illinois’ Kylan Boswell called Michigan’s defensive pressure “elite” while Underwood wanted more from himself, feeling he let his team become complacent.
“It always catches you at some point,” Underwood said. “It smacks you in the face and doesn’t feel very good. I don’t like saying that about my team very often.”
Oregon (11-18, 4-14) hopes to shake a similar feeling after Saturday’s 63-62 loss at Northwestern. The Wildcats’ Nick Martinelli scored the winning basket after his layup rolled around the rim with 1.8 seconds left to stun the Ducks.
“Martinelli does what he does,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said of the league’s top scorer.
Wei Lin put Oregon ahead 62-61 on a 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining as the Ducks battled down the stretch with the Wildcats, who trailed by 12 points early in the second half.
Nate Bittle led the way with 19 points for Oregon while Kwame Evans Jr. contributed 15 points and 15 rebounds. Evans has four double-doubles this season, including during a Big Ten loss at Rutgers in overtime on Jan. 5.
The Ducks are aiming to avoid playing in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament, which begins March 10 in Chicago. However, their odds of finishing as a No. 14 seed or better plummeted to 2% with Saturday’s loss, per a report from The Oregonian, citing Big Ten Network research.
A win at Northwestern would have improved that figure to 45%.
Both Illinois and Oregon were ranked last season when the No. 9 Ducks hosted the No. 22 Illini on Jan. 2, 2025, in the schools’ first meeting as Big Ten foes. Illinois romped 109-77 to take a 5-2 edge in the all-time series.
Wagler has scored in double figures in 21 straight games for Illinois.
–Field Level Media
