With Big Dance next, is Illinois a fatally flawed team? Has to be asked after déjà vu loss to Wisconsin

Is no lead safe against Wisconsin? Or is Illinois just not a team of closers?

Are overtime games the Illini’s kryptonite? Or is the whole point that they should be avoiding so many trips to OT in the first place?

Are these Illini — high on talent, often great offensively — simply inconsistent on defense or fatally flawed at that end of the court? And are they playing as hard as a team must, especially in March?

There are serious questions about a 24-8 team coach Brad Underwood still calls “one of the best in the country” as it heads to the NCAA Tournament after a 91-88 loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals, the Illini’s fifth loss — and fourth in OT — in their last nine games.

“Sometimes, when we make shots, we get casual on the other end and we think it’s just easy,” Underwood said. “I had that feeling today.”

Déjà vu, one would think the feeling was. That’s because essentially the same game had already taken place Feb. 10 in Champaign, when the Illini led by 12 with eight minutes to go but let the Badgers storm back and win 92-90 in OT, with guards Nick Boyd and John Blackwell combining for 49 points. This time, the lead was a cushy 15 at 60-45 nearing the midpoint of the second half before Boyd and Blackwell — who went wild with 38 and 31 points, respectively — took full advantage of a team with its foot off the gas pedal.

Another double-digit lead against the Badgers. Another total fade-out by the Illini. You almost couldn’t make it up, except you don’t have to because there appears to be a script.

“It just looked like they wanted it more, which cannot happen in these types of games,” center Tomislav Ivisic said. “When you get into OT and you’ve played bad the last 10 minutes, it’s hard to just change that. It doesn’t work like that. You’ve got to be locked in for 40 minutes. We can’t choose which possession we want to play hard, which one we don’t want to play hard.”

The 7-1 Ivisic and 6-9 freshman forward David Mirkovic definitely weren’t playing hard enough when neither got a body on Blackwell and let the 6-4 guard steal an offensive rebound right in between them, leading to a pair of free throws that tied the game with under a minute left in regulation. How do the Illini’s top two rebounders let that happen at such a crucial time?

Senior guard Kylan Boswell, reputedly the team’s top defender, hurt the cause even more so in the game’s very first minute. After forcing Boyd into a turnover on the game’s first possession, Boswell got into Boyd’s face and drew a technical.

“I was [just] making sure he understood that I was out the last game,” said Boswell, who was injured and missed the first go-round between the teams.

Right after getting teed up, Boswell was whistled for a loose-ball foul at the other end and had to report to the bench. So much for getting the payback he’d been looking for after watching Boyd and Blackwell celebrate on the Illini’s home turf.

“I was pissed after that game seeing them two run up and down the court,” Boswell said, “and then today I got two fouls in the first minute of the game and now I can’t play again. I’m very frustrated with that.”

It has been a real problem, containing athletic guards who can score. The Big Dance is going to have a good many of them, no doubt.

“Is it an issue?” Boswell said. “It’s the Big Ten. The best guards in the nation play in this league.”

Boyd loved the early interaction with Boswell — even though he picked up a tech, too — and he and Blackwell did the same run-around thing after the rematch, waving and popping their red jerseys at the United Center crowd. Had to be a heck of a lot of fun for the Badgers (24-9) to complete another comeback like that and move on to a semifinal date with top-seeded Michigan.

“Just the way we’re built,” Boyd said. “We could be down 20 and we can still come back.”

Boyd scored a quick seven after Boswell went out, and the Badgers led 10-5. But the Illini hammered back with a 23-3 run, with Boswell, back in the game, hitting a pull-up three to make it 28-13.

The Illini coughed up almost all of that lead before halftime. Then they went up 15 again in the second half and blew that lead, too. Again, how does this team let that happen?

“We got complacent,” Underwood said.

Going through all that just to lose in OT again doesn’t seem like much of a plan.

“Is this a story if you get beat by 20?” Underwood said. “It’s because they’re one-possession games.”

There tend to be a lot of those in the Big Dance, too.

Last year, the Illini faded down the stretch, and it was no surprise when they were bounced from the Dance in the second round. Boswell and Ivisic were key players on that team, and each insists this team is far better off as of mid-March.

“We’re more mature and way more connected,” Boswell said.

“This team’s better, definitely, and has better potential,” Ivisic said. “But we’ve got to learn to play for 40 minutes.”

Isn’t it kind of too late to learn that?

“I don’t know,” Ivisic said. “We’ll see.”