Illinois Men's Sweet Sixteen Takes Penn by a Thrilling Seven Points!
CHICAGO — The Illinois men’s basketball team received a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday and will play 14th-seeded Penn in the first round Thursday in Greenville, S. C.
The winner will face No. 6 seed North Carolina or No. 11 VCU on Saturday.
The Illini are in the South Region along with No. 1 seed Florida and No. 2 Houston.
The regional semifinals and final are March 26 and 28 in Houston, and the Final Four will be played April 4 and 6 in Indianapolis. The Illini (24-8) received their seeding two days after dropping their first game in the Big Ten Tournament, a quarterfinal overtime loss to Wisconsin. The loss was Illinois’ fifth in its last nine games, a stretch that likely hurt its seeding, though all of the losses were to NCAA Tournament teams.
Illinois coach Brad Underwood said Friday after the loss to the Badgers that his team was looking forward to the reboot. “We get another life, man,” he said. “That’s all we’ve been talking about.