Our first Final Four game of the 2026 Division I NCAA Tournament will be a contest between third-seeded Illinois and second-seeded UConn. The Fighting Illini are looking for their first championship game appearance in 21 years. Meanwhile, the Huskies are trying to reach their third NCAA title Game in four years.

Though both teams made it to the Final Four, they had drastically different experiences in the Elite Eight. UConn trailed for essentially the entire game against the Duke Blue Devils, falling behind by 19 points in the first half. However, the Huskies refused to quit and managed to chip away at Duke’s lead throughout the second half.

“I thought they played great. I thought they punched us in the mouth with incredible force,” said UConn head coach Dan Hurley during the postgame press conference. “The story was just that game was a reflection on the season. It's been a season where we've dealt with injuries to key players at critical points of the year that we've had to overcome, and we've had to show a lot of fortitude and resilience and just kind of claw our way through the season. The game was a microcosm of that.”

Huskies team leader and senior forward Alex Karaban noticed a change in the team's approach after halftime. He said that emphasizing defense allowed UConn to make it a one-possession game.

“I think it was the start of the second half. We started being more physical. We started really playing to the calling card that we play at,” Karaban explained. “We just felt like we let our offense really dictate how we were playing in the first half when we necessarily didn't have shots fall, or the flow of our offense really got disrupted. So, I think when we took pride on the defensive end, everything changed.”

Trailing 72-70 on Duke's final possession, a pass by Blue Devils freshman forward Cayden Boozer was deflected and intercepted by UConn freshman Braylon Mullins, who dished the ball to Alex Karaban. Karaban then passed the ball right back to Mullins, who drained a long three-pointer with 0.5 seconds left on the clock to eventually give the Huskies the 73-72 win and fans one of the most incredible moments in March Madness history.

“We fought. We clawed,” Hurley told reporters. “Put ourselves in position to take advantage of a mistake that they made. One of the most brilliant shooters that you'll ever see shoot a basketball made an incredible, legendary March shot.”

It was a risky decision by Mullins to attempt that three-pointer since he was 0/4 from beyond the arc prior to that shot. That didn't stop the 19-year-old from making one of the most memorable buckets in the history of college basketball.

“We were trying to foul the worst free-throw shooter on the floor, and Silas (Demary Jr.) ended up deflecting the pass to the other end of the floor,” Mullins said. “I had the ball, and I know AK (Alex Karaban) had just hit one, so I threw him it. Four seconds left, and - man - he just threw the ball back to me. I knew I had to put one up. So man, I'm just happy that was the one that went down tonight.”

Illinois did not have nearly as dramatic an Elite Eight as UConn. Though the Fighting Illini trailed the Iowa Hawkeyes at halftime of their game, they dominated the second half on their way to a comfortable 71-59 victory.

“I thought after the first five minutes, we settled in, even though we missed some shots,” said Illinois head coach Brad Underwood after the win. “Then, I thought our physicality and our purpose in the start of the second half was really, really good. Then, we kind of do what we've done: just find an offensive spurt or two. And Tommy (Tomislav Ivisic) got a couple of back-to-back post-ups. It gave us more than a one-possession lead. And then we got stops.”

Unlike the Huskies, who have had plenty of recent NCAA Tournament success, the Fighting Illini reached the Final Four for the first time since 2005. Even before last weekend, though, members of Illinois' basketball team had a feeling that this year's squad was special.

“From the moment we stepped on campus, we kind of got a sense of how talented we were,” said junior guard Andrej Stojaković, the son of NBA legend Peja Stojaković. “It took all of us to get here, and it took all of us to give 100% of what we got to achieve this. I think the last thing I'll say is I don't want anybody to think that this is it. Like, we didn't get to the final four just to get there. We're coming to win two more games, and we'll take it one game at a time.”

Interestingly enough, this will be the second time this year that Illinois and UConn will go head-to-head, even though they don't play in the same conference. Back in November, the Huskies defeated the Fighting Illini at Madison Square Garden, 74-61. Despite the loss, Illinois impressed UConn head coach Dan Hurley.

"Let's meet up in Indy. And I didn't mean for a drink, or for dinner," Hurley reportedly wrote in a text message to Brad Underwood after the late-November game. "I thought he had a great team, and I thought we did, too."

Underwood also has a ton of respect for UConn. While speaking to FOX Sports' Colin Cowherd on Tuesday, Underwood praised the winning culture the Huskies have established.

"There's no hiccup in anything they do," he said. "They can have a drought. They can play great. They maintain a composure that is maybe unrivaled... Karaban is one of the best players in the country that no one ever talks about... And they can hurt you in a lot of ways."

Not only have these teams completely changed since their first matchup, but Brad Underwood believes that the Fighting Illini's tournament experience will have them ready to face UConn again.

"I think we have eight starters. I think that's helped us," he said. "We've been in just two nasty street fights with Houston and Iowa, and they were physical and hard-nosed. And then we finally found a little footing offensively... I expect that same type of game with UConn... I like to think we're better prepared now than we were in November."

Prediction for #3 Illinois Fighting Illini (-2) vs. #2 UConn Huskies

When these two squads first faced off back in November, the Huskies led wire-to-wire. UConn won that game because it held Illinois to 21% shooting from beyond the arc, when the Illini usually hit 34.7% of their three-pointers. This time around, the game will not be decided by 13 points, regardless of who wins.

According to KenPom, Illinois is the most efficient offensive basketball team in the country, with a rating of 131.7. Conversely, UConn is ninth in the nation in defensive rating (93.7), which is worrisome because the Fighting Illini defeated Houston by ten points, even though the Cougars have the fourth-best defensive rating in the country (90.7). Illinois has proven that it can handle strong defensive teams.

Just like when these teams first played, this game is going to come down to Illinois' three-point shooting. Out of 365 Division I NCAA teams, the Illini average the 12th-most three-point attempts per game in the country (30.7). The problem is that they're tied for 138th in three-point efficiency (34.8%). They've been slightly better in the tournament, making 36% of their shots from beyond the arc, but that would still only be good for 60th in the country. Though UConn has allowed its March Madness opponents to make 35.3% of their three-pointers, the Huskies have done an excellent job of defending the perimeter, allowing just 17 attempted threes per game during the tourney. UConn will not give Illinois a lot of clean looks from deep, forcing them to take too many contested shots from beyond the arc. That will ultimately be the Fighting Illini's downfall.

Prediction: UConn 75 - 73 Illinois

How to watch #3 Illinois Fighting Illini (-2) vs. #2 UConn Huskies

Illinois vs. UConn starts at 6:09 p.m. EDT on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium. You can watch it on TBS or truTV, or stream it via the March Madness app or HBO Max.

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