UConn 71, Illinois 62 Postgame

[Fly Illini Fly!]

The dagger play was:

UCONN missed 3
UCONN offensive rebound
Mullins 3
Wagler 3

Went from 4pt lead to 7pt lead to 4pt lead.

IF we had corralled that board, could’ve been a 1pt game with 40 or so seconds.

 

[Sheldon Ram]

Tomi with wide open 3’s would have been huge. Anyway what a great season. Bring back the big 5 and with our recruits it’s gonna be a great year next year

 

[FromTheLogo]

They came out PHYSICAL. That was the game plan. Body blow after body blow. They made 3's, we didn't. Period.

 

[WyattEarp]

On one hand what a great year!!!
On the other hand, that Connecticut D-Bag on Lucas Oil’s Court was SO beatable.

 

[AnnaMay]

Reload and get back next year. We will get back here sooner than later

 

[Keisersose]

Great run in the tourney. Wagler is a legend.

Loved Underwood’s coaching in the tourney.

Nothing bounced our way tonight.

I’m thinking we will be back here before too long.

 

[RonC]

Great season, sad ending.

 

[ohioillini77]

Love these guys. If they made a few more close in shots......

 

[IlliniWatcher]

Missed shots. That was why the Illini lost today. Way too many inside shots missed. Virtually no 3's. The fighting spirit was nice to see, but UConn didn't beat Illinois...Illinois beat themselves. Illinois played well but they didn't look like a championship squad. Good season for the Illini. Underwood did well. Keaton will be back.

 

[Miles Leonard]

Disappointing end, but proud of the effort. No 30-0 run this time at least.

We fought our !!!!ing asses off. The effort was there. The shot making, unfortunately, was not.

Thank you to the staff and this year's group for giving us the most entertaining season in 21 years. This run will always be remembered and looked back on fondly.

 

[Illini_1979]

I will always remember this team for their heart, toughness, and talent. I've been a fan since I was a little kid (many, many years ago). This has been one of my most enjoyable seasons ever.

This team gets to hang a FF banner and that is something to be proud of.

 

[fantasydaily708]

That hurts but outstanding year the mission now is to retain Wagler somehow. Pay him 5-7 million to stay in school one more year he needs to get stronger and even more precise. The NBA isn't going anywhere would be great to retain him might be a pipedream though.

 

[logjam]

Bad game great season...

 

[Thaillini22]

Fought hard, just had a lid on our basket, and a couple big missed defensive rebounds late. UCONN got the bounces. Still love this team.

 

[Illinifan74]

Great year, extremely proud of this team. Have a feeling it's not gonna be another 21 years until we are back. ILL

 

[FeelYourPaign]

It was a good effort. To be within 4 when you can't make buckets speaks well to the number of ways this team can compete.

Proud of the team and hungry for more

 

[ChiefGritty]

Both teams played pretty well but they played better. Got a good look pretty much every time they touched the ball.

Please somebody beat Michigan

 

[chief]

We can hang a banner for making it to the Final Four

 

[kyillini]

Yes Ron. Better def 2nd half. It was the miss bunnies.

 

[Chief Illiniwek's Family]

Thank you Illini for an awesome season ! We are so proud of you. BTW so tired of the CBS ‘analysts’ being so one sided !

 

[fatboyslim]

Build off of this and come back stronger next season.

 

[illini011]

First Final Four in my lifetime not counting ‘05 since I was three years old. Great season. I just hope this isn’t the only one I’ll see.

 

[BrownTown]

Rebounding (lack of) and shooting lost us the game.

I wish Andrej would have started the game. Felt like we gave up early leads 2 games in a row with Jake Davis giving us essentially nothing.

Just not able to overcome a slow start against UCONN

 

[Thaillini22]

An incredible year.

I hate that it ends this way.

That was a winnable game and a very beatable team.

6-26 from three and handful of missed shots around the rim were the story.

Yep, especially the latter. Fudge.

 

[MidwesternCowboy]

Like everyone else, I'm gutted at the loss. But it was an amazing postseason, and it showed all the Brad doubters(Myself included) just how high our ceiling with him.

I still believe we have a good shot at winning it all one day with Coach Underwood.