Illinois 75, Iowa 69 Postgame

[Oracle21]

Nine point lead with 7:25 left, we proceeded to allow 4! dunks, a layup, 4 Ft's, and a jumper. All while Z was on the bench. Those were the only 4 dunks in the game for Iowa.

My question is, what is the thinking there? Ben plays pretty good D, but he can't jump. Z is an elite rim protector. What am I missing.

IL was cruising until they not only stalled the offense but turned it over

First 30 minutes- 4 turnovers.
Last 10 minutes- 8 turnovers

Seemed like once Iowa figured out Illimois was overplaying the 3, they got some really easy back cuts and flat out giveaway 2s. It’s one thing to not want to give up 3s when you have a lead, but you also can’t give up uncontested dunks.

I assume Iowa loses their next 2 so that’d be 4 losses in a row. Don’t think by the end of the year this win will be Quad 1

 

[Todd99]

View attachment 46401

This picture of Keaton was taken, what like, two years ago?

 

[Deep]

 

[FloridaMan]

I think the staff recognized how slow we were on rotations around the perimeter and wanted to improve there. They were trading 3 for 2. It didn't look pretty, but the calculus was right.

Really good point. You just may be correct, and I had not thought about that. I'm glad it worked for us!

 

[ChiefGritty]

How lucky are we to have 2 years in a row of elite, cold 18 year old PGs?

It ain't luck, it's our elite coach.

 

[Dee_4_Three_83]

IL was cruising until they not only stalled the offense but turned it over

First 30 minutes- 4 turnovers.
Last 10 minutes- 8 turnovers

Seemed like once Iowa figured out Illimois was overplaying the 3, they got some really easy back cuts and flat out giveaway 2s. It’s one thing to not want to give up 3s when you have a lead, but you also can’t give up uncontested dunks.

And yet we could!

 

[2X2L]

How does everybody feel about blue unis after Music City Bowl, Bears and Iowa?

 

[ChiefGritty]

How does everybody feel about blue unis after Music City Bowl, Bears and Iowa?

STILL BAD

 

[kyillinifan]

How in the world you go up for a rebound come down get pushed in the back and no foul. It should have been two fouls.

 

[Dee_4_Three_83]

I'd like to also give credit to this team for jumping out to a big lead to start the game, which seems to be a trend. When you have a team that punches first, can shoot Free Throws like we do, and plays without fouling, that is a pretty good combo that shows guys are locked in from the start.

 

[pruman91]

The Illini escape with great road win over the idiots 75-69............Waglar and Boswell with 4 clutch FT's at the end help us overcome one of the most idiotic flagrant foul calls I have ever seen called....The idiot defender ran Waglar over and then cried a river.....How in the f*** was that even considered as an F1foul........total lunacy which has become a norm for any conference game now......

Z was twice called for travelling after getting knocked down...................

Stoje was dominant in the 1st half and having fun..............
Wags was held in the first half but came through in the 2nd half with timely 3's and great composure....
Bam played great D on Stritiz and that last layup right down the lane was clutch.........

we led wire to wire and the refs tried to screw us but we escaped.......see you later tonight pru.....

ok babe , we are looking forward to celebrating a big road win....................

\

celebrate Illini Nation......

season record : 13-3
B$G record : 4-1 ( including 3 road kills )

Livin the high life as a Illini Fanatic..................

I'm getting closer to my home..................the more you know...........GO ILLINI !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Illinisnake]

How lucky are we to have 2 years in a row of elite, cold 18 year old PGs?

Hot take but Wagler is the best freshman PG underwood has ever had in his career.

 

[IllinistrandedinHouston]

Illinois raises their KP rating up over 30, which is "great team" territory.

The words are “elite team”

 

[Jimbo]

Tough win, HORRIBLE officiating at the end, it looked like the officials had $ on the game.

On to the next!

They looked good today. On the road against a good conference team, there will be periods where you struggle. We persevered. That was a quality win.

 

[Illini B-Ball Fan]

Noice win Illini, wash your hands and gargle numerous times after hanging around these filthy animals, and do in the Kitty Cats next!

Illinois 75-69 Iowa (Jan 11, 2026) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Iowa Hawkeyes NCAAM game from January 11, 2026 on ESPN. Includes all points, rebounds and steals stats.

www.espn.com

 

[logjam]

How does everybody feel about blue unis after Music City Bowl, Bears and Iowa?

The curse is broken...

 

[logjam]

Why?

 

[band camp]

Really good point. You just may be correct, and I had not thought about that. I'm glad it worked for us!

 

[ChiefGritty]

I might get over it for our basketball team because these new ones look really cool and are changing the in-game mojo.

But those unis were terrible for the bowl game, and the Bears standard home combo is the best uniform in the NFL.

 

[Miles Leonard]

Hey guys

We just won an 11 A.M. game!

 

[Todd99]

How does everybody feel about blue unis after Music City Bowl, Bears and Iowa?

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

I'll take the negative side here for once because I just don't get the logic with these lineups sometimes. Why did Z sit for so long? He came back in that last minute, Iowa never scored, he blocked a three, caused two missed layups just by his mere presence.

That entire time he was out we had absolutely zero rim protection. They got layup after layup after layup. Tomi and Ben just don't provide the same rim presence.

Tomi especially looks sooo slow for whatever reason.

Just to add to this, here's the play by play:

Illinois 75-69 Iowa (Jan 11, 2026) Play-by-Play - ESPN

Play-by-play action for the Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Iowa Hawkeyes NCAAM game from January 11, 2026 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

Z subs out at 10:49, score is 58-43. The lead rapidly dwindles in the following minutes. He sits for nearly 10 minutes, subs back in at 1:15, score 69-65. Iowa's lone baskets the rest of the way were an OREB-putback off of his block and the Keaton hook & hold FTs. Also very clearly had a presence on their missed layups.

I know hindsight is always 20/20, but we were not a better team with Zvonimir off the court.

Him and Keaton have been by far the two biggest stock risers this season.

 

[aaeismacgychel]

IL was cruising until they not only stalled the offense but turned it over

I assume Iowa loses their next 2 so that’d be 4 losses in a row. Don’t think by the end of the year this win will be Quad 1

What in the world? There is no way you can possibly think Iowa (currently 19 in NET) is going to fall all the way down to 76+ which is what would be needed to turn this into a Quad 2. To do that, they'd almost certainly need to lose about 75% of their remaining games at this point. Whether this ends up being a Quad 1A win is certainly arguable, but not even a Quad 1? That's unrealistic to the point of it being absurd. That'd be similar to saying we're going to miss the tourney this year. Almost certainly not going to happen.

 

[ejam21]

IL was cruising until they not only stalled the offense but turned it over

First 30 minutes- 4 turnovers.
Last 10 minutes- 8 turnovers

Seemed like once Iowa figured out Illimois was overplaying the 3, they got some really easy back cuts and flat out giveaway 2s. It’s one thing to not want to give up 3s when you have a lead, but you also can’t give up uncontested dunks.

I assume Iowa loses their next 2 so that’d be 4 losses in a row. Don’t think by the end of the year this win will be Quad 1

Iowa would have to fall from 19 to 76 or worse to not be quad 1. I think it would take a huge meltdown for that to happen.

 

[joeybcrazy13]