Illinois' NCAA path blocked by Houston, a powerhouse that will hard to handle in Sweet 16

It’s shoot first, ask questions later for Illinois’ men’s basketball team in this NCAA Tournament.

We’re talking Super Soakers in the locker room, of course. After a 76-55 win against VCU in Greenville, South Carolina, the Illini sprayed at will, the Sweet 16 beckoning. There would be time to discuss the next opponent, South Region No. 2 seed Houston, over the coming days.

Sometimes, you’ve just got to stop and drench the roses first.

“This is why I came here,” coach Brad Underwood told reporters.

“It’s what we work for,” said guard Andrej Stojakovic, who led the Illini (26-8) with 21 points.

Seven more Sweet 16 matchups were to be determined on Sunday, but by the end of tournament play Saturday night, the only one set was Illinois-Houston — and, at least for those on the outside looking in, it felt almost as big as it gets.

The No. 3-seeded Illini have arrived as a tournament regular under ninth-year coach Underwood and clearly possess the talent and size to have a shot at the Final Four. The Elite Eight in 2024 is the furthest the program has gone since the national championship near-miss of 2005.

The Cougars (30-6), in the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight year under Kelvin Sampson, have ascended to superpower level. Last year, they blew a double-digit lead against Florida in the title game and lost by a whisker. They reached the Elite Eight in 2022 — beating Illinois 68-53 along the way — and the Final Four in 2021. In three regular seasons since joining the Big 12, arguably college basketball’s best conference, they’re a startlingly great 48-8.

After demolishing Texas A&M 88-57, the Cougars are the first team since 2008 to win its first two tournament games by 30 or more points. They’re a guard-driven crew offensively — Kingston Flemings, Milos Uzan, Emanuel Sharp — that leads the nation in fewest turnovers committed, yet the defensive end is where Sampson’s teams shine even brighter. An 18-0 run over 6:25 of the first half against Texas A&M was almost jarring to watch.

“That’s an incredible defense,” Aggies coach Bucky McMillan said.

The Cougars have a reputation for playing harder than most everyone else, too. Case in point: In the second round, they missed 38 shots but had 19 offensive rebounds.

It might be hard to admit for Illinois fans who still hold a grudge against Sampson from 20 years ago, when he was at Indiana and flipped Illini commit Eric Gordon, but advancing to the Elite Eight is going to require outlasting one of the best-coached teams in the country. One thing that couldn’t be more obvious: The Cougars are going to go at Illini freshmen Keaton Wagner and David Mirkovic extremely hard.

“This year’s team is no different than last year’s team,” Sampson said. “It’s just we have different players on this year’s team. We got four freshmen that had to learn how to play Cougar basketball.”

And what is that, exactly?

“Don’t turn the ball over,” he said. “When they shoot and miss it, rebound it. Make sure the right people are taking the shots. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing.”

It does, of course. They’re playing the Illini, who won’t be pushovers, though the Cougars opened as 2½-point favorites and the game will be in Houston.

“Just let it rip,” Underwood said, his postseason mantra.

“We’ve got to play that way, and we’ve got to play loose and we’ve got to play free.”