Illinois 57, Colorado 49: 'Strange'

"It's exciting, survive and advance, no matter how you win, just win," Nnanna Egwu said. "No one cares how you won. If you advance, nobody's going to care."

"As long as you find a way to grind it out at the end, which we've shown what we can do this season," said Brandon Paul, who led Illinois with 17 points. "Survive and advance is the name of the game right now. We've just got to continue to get better."

Marcus Jackson