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Saturday night, two teams will punch their tickets to the 2026 NCAA Tournament national championship. The slate of Final Four games begins with UConn vs. Illinois at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Huskies punched their ticket to Indianapolis with a thrilling victory over Duke in the Elite 8. Braylon Mullins hit a wild game-winner to finish off a furious comeback and propel UConn to victory. Meanwhile, in Houston, Illinois defeated Iowa in a battle of Big Ten teams to secure its spot in the Final Four for the first time since 2005.
On3 is tracking the showdown between Illinois and UConn with a spot in the national title game on the line. Follow along throughout the Final Four matchup.
Illinois stops UConn run, still trails at U12
04/04/2026 05:31:49 PM
UConn forced an Illinois timeout after a 10-2 run, and the Fighting Illini were able to get back within three points at the under-12 media timeout. The Huskies held an 18-12 lead with 11:25 to go in the first half, led by seven early points from Tarris Reed and six from Braylon Mullins.
U16, 1H: UConn 10, Illinois 7
04/04/2026 05:19:29 PM
At the first media timeout of Saturday’s game, UConn maintained a 10-7 lead over Illinois. The Huskies started out 4-for-9 while the Fighting Illini went 2-for-6 out of the gate, but made all three free throws.
Tip-off
04/04/2026 05:11:09 PM
UConn wins the opening tip-off to get the first possession against Illinois. The 2026 Final Four is underway from Lucas Oil Stadium.
Injury updates
04/04/2026 04:53:14 PM
Neither team’s availability reports had any surprises ahead of the Final Four. Illinois will be without Ty Rodgers, Toni Bilic and Jason Jakstys, while UConn did not list anyone on its final availability report Saturday evening.
Pregame: UConn vs. Illinois
04/04/2026 04:40:40 PM
Ahead of tip-off, Illinois is a 1.5-point favorite against UConn, according to BetMGM. The over-under is also at 139.5.
Tip-off time: 6:09 p.m. ET
Channel: TBS/truTV
Announcers: Ian Eagle, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery, Tracy Wolfson
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