HOUSTON — Illinois is heading to the Final Four for the first time in 21 years, and Andrej Stojakovic made clear the Fighting Illini have much bigger goals.
“I don’t want anybody to think this is it,” he said. “We didn’t get to the Final Four just to get there. We’re coming to win two more games.”
Freshman Keaton Wagler scored 25 points and Illinois ended Iowa’s underdog March Madness run by dominating in the frontcourt, beating the Hawkeyes 71-59 on Saturday to end a Final Four drought that dated to 2005.
“It’s better than I dreamt it would ever be,” coach Brad Underwood said. “Thirty-nine years in the business and that’s all I’m going to say about my side of this. This is about these guys.”
This will be the sixth trip to the Final Four for Illinois, which has never won a national title. The Illini will face either Duke or UConn next weekend in Indianapolis.
“This is what kids dream of,” said Wagler, who was named the South Region’s Most Outstanding Player. “I know I dreamed of this when I was growing up, playing in the Final Four, competing for a national championship. To be able to do it with the people around me, teammates, coaches, fans, managers, everyone, it means a lot … but we’re not done yet.”
Underwood’s emphasis on recruiting Eastern Europeans has paid off in this tournament. Tomislav Ivisic of Croatia, who stands 7-foot-1, and his 7-2 twin brother Zvonimir have shined in March.
The much taller Illini (28-8) outrebounded Iowa 38-21. David Mirkovic led the way with 12 rebounds. Illinois also outscored Iowa 40-12 in the paint.
“We were dominant on the glass from the first minute, even in the beginning of the game,” Tomislav Ivisic said. “They started the game better, but rebounding kept us in the game.”
Stojakovic, who was born in Greece but whose father is Serbian three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic, scored 17 points for third-seeded Illinois. His dad watched proudly as his son punched his ticket to the Final Four, and Wagler’s parents — who met when they played basketball at a junior college in Kansas — cheered wildly throughout for their son.
“He gets probably not near enough credit for how tough he is because he’s very unemotional and very stoic,” Underwood said of the 19-year-old Wagler. “But he’s tougher than nails.”
Bennett Stirtz scored 24 points for the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (24-13), who knocked off top-seeded Florida in the second round as part of an impressive run under first-year coach Ben McCollum, a four-time Division II national champion at Northwest Missouri State. Stirtz played for McCollum there, then followed him to Drake and finally Iowa.
The Illini went on an 8-0 run, with four points from Tomislav Ivisic, to take a 58-51 lead with less than five minutes remaining.
Isaia Howard made one of two free throws for Iowa after that, but an alley-oop dunk by Zvonimir Ivisic pushed the lead to 60-52 with about four minutes to go.
Sage Tate hit four consecutive free throws for Iowa to get the Hawkeyes within four with two minutes to go. But Stojakovic added a layup for Illinois before Wagler made two free throws to make it 67-59.
“Our lack of shooting caught up with us,” McCollum said. “I think that we couldn’t space it, and so when you can’t space it, you can’t get to the rim. So it just became a problem where we were having to take tough 3s.”
It was the second meeting this season for these Big Ten rivals. Illinois won 75-69 on Jan. 11.
Illinois never led in the first half but took its first lead just after halftime. There were a dozen lead changes before the Illini pulled away.
