The Illinois Fighting Illini dominated the second half Saturday to win the Elite Eight battle over Iowa in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
That put No. 3 seed Illinois in the Final Four for the first time since 2005. Both the Illini and No. 9 seed Iowa had plenty to say after the game. The Illini will face either Duke or UConn in the Final Four.
What Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said
What Iowa head coach Ben McCollum said
What the Iowa and Illinois players said
Dave Eminian is the senior writer and Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ‘I dreamt about doing it at Illinois’: Final Four dreams come true for Illini coach
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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