Ending the season: Illinois basketball defeated in both men’s and women’s second rounds

The March Madness campaigns of both the Illinois men’s and women’s teams were unfortunately halted in the Round of 32, with the men being defeated 84-75 by 3-seed Kentucky and the women being beaten 65-48 by top-seeded Texas.

Both teams had suffered long strings of injuries throughout the year, but bounced back as both teams won their first round games in convincing fashion: the men won 86-73 over Xavier and the women picked up their first tournament win since 2000 with a 66-67 victory over Creighton.

Despite these impressive first round performances, both teams fell far short of their round of 16 hopes, suffering rather convincing defeats.

So, What Went Wrong for the Illini?

Both teams shared the same common issues: turnovers. The women’s team recorded 20 turnovers, their third highest turnover count this year, while the men’s team recorded 14 turnovers, including six from Jakucionis, marking the fourth straight game where Jakucionis recorded six turnovers.

The mens team’s main struggle, however, wasn’t their turnovers, it was, as usual, their three point shooting. The Illini shot only 9/32 (28.1%) from beyond the arc, including a stretch of eight straight missed 3’s late in the second half, where the Illini went for over 11 minutes without making a single 3 point shot. This was a backbreaker for the men’s hopes of making a comeback which would have seen them advance to back-to-back Sweet Sixteens for the first time since 2004-2005.

As for the women’s team, their first, third, and fourth quarter performances were rather decent, but a poor second quarter stretch was what doomed them to a second round exit. In the second, the Illini had a whopping nine turnovers throughout the second quarter, while also allowing Texas to outscore them 18-6, including in the second quarter which included an 11-0 run for the Longhorns.