Everything appeared to line up for Kelvin Sampson and the Houston Cougars.
No. 1 seed Florida had been knocked out of the South bracket. The second-seeded Cougars entered the Sweet 16 playing a South regional hosted just miles from Houston’s campus at the Toyota Center.
And they opened Thursday’s Sweet 16 game playing their own brand of basketball in a grind of a first half against 3 seed Illinois. But Illinois beat Houston at its own game.
The Illini took a 24-22 lead out of halftime and pulled away for a 64-55 win to advance to the Elite 8. Illinois will play in Saturday’s South regional final against 9 Iowa.
Houston’s season, meanwhile, ends short of the Final Four as Sampson and Cougars each remain in search of their first elusive national title.
A team known for its explosive offense more than lockdown defense, Illinois limited Houston to four points in the first 8:40 of the second half. It rode a 17-0 run to a 44-26 lead with 11:54 remaining, and Houston never recovered.
The Cougars cut their deficit to as close at 50-41 with under six minutes remaining. But Illinois responded with an 8-0 run to reassert control, doing what it did in the first place to build its lead — making life difficult for Houston’s offense and crashing the offensive glass.
And an Illinois team that ranks second in the nation in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency and 24th in defense won ugly to move within a win of the Final Four.
This story will be updated.
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