How UConn's 30-0 Run in 2024 Sparked Illinois' 2026 Final Four Run

Illinois fans – and the entire college basketball world, for that matter – remember it vividly: Just two years ago, the Illini met UConn in an Elite Eight battle. The Huskies, who had already blown through the first three rounds with an average point-differential of plus-28.7, were one of the best college basketball teams in modern history.

But Illinois, led by a bona fide star in Terrence Shannon Jr. and an exceptional second fiddle in Marcus Domask, appeared to be up to the task through most of one half. After Domask hit a 12-footer in the paint to knot the score at 23 with less than two minutes before the break, the Illini appeared poised to fight the Huskies down to the wire.

Then, UConn went on a run – and not just any run. It was perhaps the most iconic stretch – and infamous in the minds of Illini fans – in recent NCAA Tournament history. The Huskies blitzed the Illini with a 30-0 run that bled into the second half, giving UConn an advantage it carried to a 77-52 win.

But Illinois coach Brad Underwood and his program didn’t stay down. They took that knockout punch, got back up and learned from it. Two years later, the Illini are in the Final Four, where they await a very familiar foe: the UConn Huskies.

How Illinois used UConn's 30-0 run in 2024 to ignite a 2026 Final Four run

“I don’t think we’ve rebuilt – we just reload,” Underwood said of his program after that UConn loss in 2024. “And it [has] looked different. I’ve said all along. We just have to keep knocking on the door. And our opportunities [were] going to come. We learned a lot from that game. I thought that team was a Final Four team that just happened to play a damn good basketball team in the Elite Eight. So we didn’t get there.

“But I think we grew from that from a standpoint of understanding how hard it is, what that looks like. It’s hard to argue with what Danny [Hurley] has done throughout his time there and the consistency. And that’s the one thing we’ve tried to match is the consistency. And not ever look at it as a rebuild, but just a reload.”

Hurley's program has, in fact, represented the pinnacle of consistency at the top. UConn, which owns two of the past three national titles and is in its third Final Four in four years – and in an era when bluebloods are slowly fading into the larger tapestry of college basketball – is the premier organization in the sport.

Illinois, along with the rest of the country, is seeking to rise to that level. Now participating in its sixth straight NCAA Tournament, the Illini have continued to show up and give themselves a shot. And this year, they finally broke through.

But with that first box – Final Four – officially checked off, the Illini are on to the next: a national championship. To accomplish that, first Underwood and his crew must get past Hurley and his Huskies on Saturday night (5:09 p.m. CT, TBS).