HOUSTON (AP) 鈥� 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.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want anybody to think this is it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 get to the Final Four just to get there. We鈥檙e coming to win two more games.鈥�
Freshman Keaton Wagler scored 25 points and Illinois ended Iowa’s underdog run by dominating in the frontcourt, beating the Hawkeyes 71-59 on Saturday to end a Final Four drought that dated to 2005.
鈥淚t鈥檚 better than I dreamt it would ever be,鈥� coach Brad Underwood said. 鈥淭hirty-nine years in the business and that鈥檚 all I鈥檓 going to say about my side of this. This is about these guys.鈥�
This will be the sixth trip to the Final Four for Illinois, which has never won a national title. The Illini will face either next weekend in Indianapolis.
鈥淭his is what kids dream of,鈥� said Wagler, who was named the South Region’s Most Outstanding Player. 鈥淚 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鈥檙e not done yet.鈥�
鲍苍诲别谤飞辞辞诲鈥檚 has paid off in this tournament. Tomislav Ivisic of Croatia, who stands 7-foot-1, and his 7-2 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.
鈥淲e were dominant on the glass from the first minute, even in the beginning of the game,鈥� Tomislav Ivisic said. 鈥淭hey started the game better, but rebounding kept us in the game.鈥�
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 鈥� who met when they played basketball at a junior college in Kansas 鈥� cheered wildly throughout for their son.
鈥淗e gets probably not near enough credit for how tough he is because he鈥檚 very unemotional and very stoic,鈥� Underwood said of the 19-year-old Wagler. 鈥淏ut he鈥檚 tougher than nails.鈥�
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.
鈥淥ur lack of shooting caught up with us,鈥� McCollum said. 鈥淚 think that we couldn鈥檛 space it, and so when you can鈥檛 space it, you can鈥檛 get to the rim. So it just became a problem where we were having to take tough 3s.鈥�
It was the second meeting this season for these Big Ten rivals. Illinois won 75-69 on Jan. 11.
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.
Buzzkill
The game was delayed for about 10 minutes in the first half because of a that caused the horn to blare nonstop for seven minutes.
鈥淣othing I can control. … Just move on, move forward,鈥� McCollum said. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 probably impact the fact that we gave up 16 (offensive) boards.鈥�
All-tournament honors for 3 Illini
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.
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