With a net draped around his neck at the Toyota Center after Illinois‘ 71-59, come-from-behind win over Iowa in the Elite Eight on Saturday, Fighting Illini coach Brad Underwood thought about the moment.
“When you’re a kid, you dream about this. You see it, you get home, and you watch it. I was the kid who stayed up all night watching every game,” said Underwood, who said he thought his team had a shot at the Final Four when the season started. “And you start your journey and you’re a junior college coach, and it took me 26 years to become a head coach. You watch everybody do it, and you wonder if your opportunity’s going to come.”
Freshman Keaton Wagler, who scored 25 points to help Illinois rebound after it fell behind 12-2 to start the game, has gone from under-the-radar high school prospect to projected lottery pick. Illinois rallied thanks to its defense, which held Iowa to 23.1% shooting from the field in the second half. Underwood’s squad overcame a 3-for-17 mark from the 3-point range by outscoring Iowa 40-12 in the paint and finishing with a 57% offensive rebounding rate.
But long before Saturday’s win, which was punctuated by Illinois shooting 58% from the field in the second half, there had to be belief. To make a run to the Final Four for the first time since 2005, when Illinois lost to North Carolina in the national title game, Underwood had to have a team full of dreamers.
Underwood’s coaching journey included stints at Kansas State during the 2007-08 season, when Michael Beasley was among the nation’s leading scorers. From there, Underwood coached Thomas Walkup (Stephen F. Austin), Jawun Evans (Oklahoma State) and four future NBA draft picks at Illinois. Underwood allowed those players to dominate when necessary, a trait that compelled Wagler to pick Illinois when other schools had passed on him.
When he arrived, Wagler thought he could be the star of this group.
“I think they were being super aggressive, so I know with them being aggressive, I’ve got to be aggressive back: getting easy paint touches, finishing, kicking out to teammates,” he said.
His teammates had the same confidence when they realized Wagler, a 6-foot-5 wing, exceeded their expectations over the summer.
“When we saw the talent that we had in the summertime, the coaches kept preaching how good we are, how good we can be,” forward Jake Davis said. “And as the season started going on, we really knew we were that good, so it was just about putting the pieces together and coming together as a team and figuring it out.”
In the first half Saturday, Iowa star Bennett Stirtz, who had been the leader of the program’s Cinderella story and first trip to the Elite Eight in 39 years, scored 15 points, and the Hawkeyes entered the break leading by four points. He struggled against Illinois when Iowa lost 75-69 in the first meeting between the two teams in Iowa City in January. He was determined to keep Iowa alive in the rematch.
Illinois was a different team in the second half, though. The Illini were dominant inside. They also put more pressure on Stirtz, who finished 2-for-8 in the second half.
With 12:13 left in the game, Wagler used a spin move that caused Iowa’s Isaia Howard to stumble and nearly fall, freeing Wagler to hit a step-back 3-pointer that gave Illinois a 46-44 lead. Wagler’s floater with 4:51 left ignited a 15-8 run that helped the Illini pull away for the win.
Overall, Wagler and his teammates responded to a tough stretch, with their season on the line, to achieve what they had discussed all season. When it was over, Underwood reminisced about the hopes he had when the season started while he enjoyed everything his team had just accomplished.
“You know,” he said, “it’s even better than I imagined it would be.”
