Illinois punches first Final Four ticket of March Madness on big day in men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments

Eight men’s college basketball teams are just one step away from clinching a spot to the Final Four in Indianapolis, but first, they have to take care of business in this weekend’s Elite Eight regional finals.

This year’s edition of the national quarterfinals features four Big Ten schools, three No. 1 seeds, two “Blue Blood” programs in Duke and UConn and one Cinderella, Iowa.

Two teams will punch their ticket to the Final Four on Saturday.

Saturday’s doubleheader started with an all-Big Ten showdown between South Region No. 9 seed Iowa and No. 3 seed Illinois in Houston.

The Hawkeyes, who went just 10-10 in Big Ten conference play during the season, have looked like a totally different team in March Madness. That trend continued in the early minutes of their game against Illinois as Iowa got off to an early 9-0 lead.

Illinois guard Andrej Stojakovic, son of longtime NBA player Peja Stojakovic, brought a spark coming off the bench as the Illini battled back to cut the deficit down to one point. But a hot hand from Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz, who scored 15 points in the first half, kept the Hawkeyes in front with a 32-28 lead at halftime.

There was a delay of 11 minutes in the middle stages of the first half when the horn in the Toyota Center wouldn’t stop blaring. Eventually officials had to unplug the entire overhead scoreboard to stop the noise and the game continued with a handheld airhorn.

Illinois took its first lead of the game in the early minutes of the second half on an and-one play from David Mirkovic.

From there, the border war matchup turned into a seesaw affair with the Hawkeyes and Illini trading the lead back and forth an astounding 13 times in the second half.

As the minutes ticked down and the tension ratcheted up, Illinois to showed the quality that helped the Illini beat the Hawkeyes during their regular season matchup. An 8-0 Illinois run gave the Illini some breathing room.

Iowa could not find much offense outside of Stirtz, who scored a team-high 24, and Illinois powered its way to a 71-59 win to reach their first Final Four since 2005.

Freshman guard Keaton Wagler set the tempo for Illinois, scoring 25 points to lead all scorers. Stojakovic finished with 17 points coming off the bench.

The Illini will face the winner of the East Region final between No. 1 seed Duke and No. 2 seed UConn in the Final Four in Indianapolis.

The nightcap features the third Big Ten school, No. 2 Purdue, taking on No. 1 Arizona.

Purdue is one win away from a Final Four in its home state of Indiana. The Wildcats have not gone past this round since 2015.

Can Purdue recreate Thursday’s magic with another game-winner?

The top two seeds in the West Regional face off at 8:49 p.m. ET from the SAP Center in San Jose, California.

Full men’s schedule for Saturday:

The women’s Sweet 16 closed out on Saturday with four games featuring two No. 1 seeds in action.

South Carolina, led by head coach Dawn Staley, looked like a contender for the championship as the Gamecocks dismantled No. 4 Oklahoma by a score of 94-68.

The No. 1 seed Texas Longhorns made light work of SEC foe No. 5 Kentucky, winning by a score of 56-44.

No. 2 seed Michigan cruised past No. 3 seed Louisville 71-52 in the first women’s Sweet 16 game of Saturday.

In action now, TCU is looking to dash the hopes of Virginia, who is looking to become only the second-ever 10 seed to make the Elite Eight.

Here is the full women’s schedule on Saturday:

Sunday’s first men’s game pits No. 6 Tennessee from the SEC and the fourth team representing the Big Ten, No. 1 Michigan.

Dusty May has the Wolverines on the brink of the Final Four, but Michigan will have to get past a physical Volunteers squad seeking the school’s first-ever Final Four.

The Volunteers and Wolverines face off at 2:15 p.m. ET from the United Center in Chicago.

The weekend closes with a heavyweight “blue blood” matchup. The overall No. 1 seed Duke, winners of five national championships take on UConn, winners of six titles.

The Blue Devils are seeking to advance to their second consecutive Final Four and 19th overall while the Huskies are aiming for the school’s eighth appearance.

The two teams square off at 5:05 p.m. ET from the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.

The Final Four is set for next Saturday, April 4 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis with two semifinals games.

Two days later, a new national champion will be crowned.

Full men’s schedule for Sunday:

The women’s Elite Eight will officially get underway on Sunday with two games: