Illinois clamps down on Houston for
a 65-55 March Madness win to reach Elite Eight
[March 27, 2026]
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
HOUSTON (AP) — David Mirkovic had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and
third-seeded Illinois flexed its defensive muscles to eliminate last
year's national runner-up from the NCAA Tournament, beating Houston
65-55 in the South Region semifinals on Thursday night.
Next up is a meeting Saturday with ninth-seeded Iowa to see which
Big Ten team will advance to the Final Four. It will be the 11th
Elite Eight appearance for Illinois (27-8) and its second in three
seasons under Brad Underwood.
In the Sweet 16 for a seventh consecutive time, the second-seeded
Cougars (30-7) were thrilled to be playing just over two miles from
their campus. But their poor shooting gave Houston fans little to
cheer about and delighted the orange-clad Illini faithful who made
the long trip to Texas.
“At the beginning of the game Houston fans were a little louder, but
as game was going, (our fans) started being louder in their city,”
Mirkovic said. “So it’s just really important for us, I would say
just like a wind to our back. They pushed us and thanks for them.”
Star freshman point guard Kingston Flemings, who is expected to be
an NBA lottery pick, had 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting and Milos
Uzan made just 2 of 11 shots.
But they were far from the only Cougars who struggled offensively.
The team shot just 34% in its lowest-scoring game of the season.
Underwood was asked about his team's defensive performance.
“I think it’s a mental focus,” he said. “We’ve been very good at
times defensively. It’s just sustaining it. We’ve got very capable
defenders, we’ve got size and length, and we just got to make shots
difficult.”
Illinois finished well under the 84.7 points a game it averaged
entering Thursday. But its offense was still plenty powerful enough
to send Houston back to its nearby campus. Keaton Wagler had 13
points and 12 rebounds for the Illini, and Andrej Stojakovic — with
his dad, three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic, in the stands —
also scored 13.
By the time the final seconds ticked off the clock, many Houston
fans had cleared out and the Illinois supporters stood and cheered
as their team celebrated.
“I was proud of our kids’ effort,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson
said. “We just didn’t play good enough.”
[to top of second column] |
Illinois center Tomislav Ivisic (13) reacts after defeating Houston
in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament Friday,
March 27, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The Illini were up by one early in the second half
when they broke it open with a 17-0 run for a 44-26 lead with about
12 minutes left. Jake Davis scored five points during the burst,
including a 3-pointer, and Mirkovic and Ben Humrichous capped it
with consecutive 3s.
The Cougars missed seven consecutive shots as
Illinois built its lead. When Uzan finally ended Houston’s drought
with a 3-pointer with 11:20 left, it had been almost seven minutes
since the team had scored.
“We were getting stops and we were limiting them to one shot, and to
tough shots as well,” Wagler said. “Making them shoot tough middies
or contested at the rim, 3-pointers, all of that, and then we were
going in and grabbing the rebound and offensively we were getting
the shots that we wanted, we were knocking them down.”
Consecutive 3-pointer by Chase McCarty got Houston within nine with
about six minutes left. But Wagler and Tomislav Ivisic made
3-pointers to lead an 8-0 run that extended the lead to 58-41.
Illinois gets the rebounding it needed
Wagler, the Big Ten freshman of the year, shot 4 of 14 from the
field but led the team in rebounds.
“Coaches were telling us before the game: ‘It’s going to be a guard
game to get rebounds. We need 10-plus out of the guards,’" he said.
“So I took that challenge on. I went in there, tried to play as
tough as I could, not let them get any second-chance rebounds. I
went in there and tried to get every rebound I could.”
Uzan thought the rebounding of Wagler and Illinois' other guards was
a key to the game.
“That’s what hurt us, defensive rebounding from the guards,” he
said.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
