All Orange, no blues: Illini snap Sweet Sixteen drought without much of a sweat
March Madness is supposed to be about upsets and buzzer-beaters.
But for the participants, nothing beats a nice, stress-free victory. A game no one flips to while watching a more dramatic tournament matchup.
Illinois delivered such a performance Saturday, rolling past 11-seed Duquesne 89-63. The Illini move onto the regional semifinals for the first time since 2005 and will face No. 2 seed Iowa State on Thursday in Boston.
During the long Sweet Sixteen drought, the stress seemed to get the best of the Illini a few times. Maybe not so much last year when Illinois lost in the first round, but certainly against Houston, Chattanooga and Loyola in 2021 and '22.
In the postgame news conference, Illini coach Brad Underwood was asked how it feels to get the monkey off his back.
“It's never been on my back,” he said. “These guys don't know anything about any of that.”
This is Underwood's seventh season, so more of the blame for the tourney drought goes to Bruce Weber and John Groce. And Underwood did spread some blame, in a sense.
“I think for the program's sake, it's mind-blowing to me,” Underwood said. “I think there's frustration. We had a 1-seed and got upset this very game (by Loyola). This program's elite. To not be there in 18-19 years, to me that's more mind-numbing.
“We had some tough draws and a couple injuries and you get beat. That's the beauty of March Madness. It feels good to be dancing with this group. This is one of my favorite teams to coach, if not the favorite. So on to Boston.”
The stress issue was easily solved in Omaha by jumping out to a quick 32-11 lead. The game and the cover were never really in doubt after that start.
In recent games Terrence Shannon Jr. has been so good, the Illini really just needed a few contributions from the supporting cast to record wins. It didn't have to be much.
Against Duquesne, Shannon got plenty of outside help. Coleman Hawkins hit 3 early 3-pointers, center Dain Dainja came off the bench and went to work down low, then Quincy Guerrier contributed on the offensive glass.
Shannon was very good, scoring 30 points while hitting 10 of 14 shots. Duquesne didn't have the speed to keep up on defense. Second option Marcus Domask added 22 points and 7 assists.
Underwood may have claimed the players know nothing about the Sweet Sixteen streak, but Hawkins knew plenty about it.
“Part of me wants to get really excited, and part of me just wants to keep the 'job's not finished mindset,'” said Hawkins, a senior from Sacramento. “I'm really happy for everything we've accomplished this year. But to sit here and say I'm happy with making the Sweet Sixteen is not what I want to say. I want to be happy with winning a national championship.
“I'm aware of the history, because it kind of gets thrown in our face a little bit, but I think the goal now is to really go out and do it and become national champions, because that's why we're here.”
Duquesne pulled off a first-round upset over BYU and were gifted new sneakers by LeBron James, but the Dukes also finished sixth in the Atlantic-10.
The James connection, which is well-known by now, is retiring Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot was the coach at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary during James' high school years, while his top assistant is Dru Joyce, James' childhood friend and high school teammate.
The matchup with Iowa State should be interesting. Illinois ranks second in the KenPom adjusted offensive ratings, while the Cyclones are No. 2 in defensive rating.
“I think we're hitting our stride and trending in the right direction,” Domask said. “You always want to start playing you best basketball come March and I think we're doing that.”
The Illini may need to play their best game of the season to topple Iowa State, but no pressure. The Sweet Sixteen streak is finally over.
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