Illinois had something akin to a home game from Indianapolis. The audience at Lucas Oil Stadium, which is 125 miles away from the Illinois campus in Champaign, leaned orange on the evening of April 4 in a way that the neutral-site classification did not adequately convey. Since 2005, Illinois had not advanced to a Final Four.
Before this week, 62-year-old Brad Underwood, a lifelong coach, had never attended a Final Four. It had nothing to do with seeding; there was real enthusiasm for the Illini in that stadium. The club that was expected to be able to handle it was UConn, the No. 2 seed with three national title appearances in four years. The first part implied that they were correct.
Important Information
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Game | 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament — Final Four, Game 1 |
| Date | April 4, 2026 |
| Venue | Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Final Score | UConn 71, Illinois 62 |
| UConn Record | 34-5 — #2 seed |
| Illinois Record | 28-9 — #3 seed |
| UConn Top Scorers | Tarris Reed Jr. — 17 points, 11 rebounds; Braylon Mullins — 15 points (12 in first half; iced game with late 3) |
| Illinois Top Scorers | Keaton Wagler — 20 points, 8 rebounds; Tomislav Ivisic — 16 points, 7 rebounds |
| UConn Halftime Lead | 37-29 — most points Illinois had allowed in any 2026 NCAA Tournament first half |
| Largest UConn Lead | 49-36 early in second half — largest Illinois deficit all season |
| Illinois Comeback Attempt | 10-0 run cut UConn lead to 57-53; Wagler 3-pointer with under a minute left pulled Illini within four |
| Illinois Last Final Four | 2005 — lost national championship game to North Carolina |
| Next Game | UConn vs. Michigan — Monday April 6, 8:50 PM ET on TBS — national championship game |
| UConn Dynasty Context | 19th straight win in Sweet 16 or later rounds of NCAA Tournament; third national championship appearance in four years |
After Braylon Mullins made a 3-pointer on UConn’s opening possession, the Huskies continued to play as if they were in control of the game. Playing almost at home in Indianapolis, the Indiana freshman guard finished the half with 12 points and a banked shot right before the buzzer to increase the margin to 37-29. He was 3-for-5 from three before halftime.
Underneath, Tarris Reed Jr. was working, intimidating anybody Illinois attempted to place in front of him. UConn had nine assists and no turnovers by the half. In the same time frame, Illinois’ offense, which KenPom ranks best in the country for adjusted offensive efficiency, had only managed one assist. In that first half, UConn scored 37 points—more than the Illini had allowed in any tournament game this season.
It was clear from observing Underwood’s expression during the first half’s timeouts that he realized the game was headed in a path that would take extraordinary effort to turn around. Then it came dangerously close to happening. UConn had a 49-36 lead early in the second half, which was Illinois’ biggest deficit of the season. The Illini then went on a 10-0 run while the Huskies went cold, missing shot after shot. It was 57-53 all of a sudden.
Since halftime, neither Reed nor Mullins had scored. Lucas Oil became noisy in the same manner that venues become noisy when something is actually happening. After UConn responded with a Reed layup and a Ball dunk, the margin was reduced to five in the last minute. Mullins, who had not scored in the second half until that point, made the game 66-59 with a dagger three. Technically, the game was finished, but Keaton Wagler made it interesting with a three of his own. Illinois 62, UConn 71.
The final score understates Illinois’s late-game effort and slightly flattens UConn’s control. Wagler was the best player on the floor in the second half against a defense that rarely permits that, finishing with 20 points and eight rebounds. Ivisic contributed seven rebounds and sixteen points.
After defeating Penn, VCU, Houston, and Iowa to advance to their first Final Four in twenty-one years, the Illini did not anticipate being humiliated. They didn’t feel ashamed. They were defeated by a team that has been doing this for three years in a row, and their coach used phrases like “culture” and “resilience” rather than “relief” to describe the experience afterward.
Reaching Indianapolis was truly important for Illinois. Underwood led a team that had not advanced to a Final Four in this century to the highest level possible. NBA scouts will be examining Wagler, a sharpshooter in his second or third year of notoriety, for the next month. Ivisic appeared to be a potential first-round selection.
The program was regarded among the top offensive teams in the country going into this tournament, and it mostly lived up to expectations. The fact that they encountered UConn—more precisely, Reed in the paint and Mullins at the arc—was more of a matchup issue than a sign of some underlying shortcoming. In collegiate basketball, these situations do occur. They can occur 19 times in a row at times.
