Illinois bows out of Big Ten Tournament with 91-88 overtime loss to Wisconsin in quarterfinals

Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune on Mar 13, 2026

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CHICAGO — Illinois’ Big Ten Tournament run began and ended Friday at the United Center.

Fifth-seeded Wisconsin topped the fourth-seeded Illini, 91-88 in overtime, behind a combined 69 points from guards John Blackwell and Nick Boyd to advance to Saturday’s semifinal against top-seeded Michigan.

Illinois, which had received a triple bye into the tournament’s quarterfinals on the fourth day, heads back to Champaign to await its NCAA Tournament seeding Sunday. It was Illinois’ second overtime loss to Wisconsin this season.

Keaton Wagler led Illinois with 19 points and eight assists, while fellow Illinois freshman David Mirković had 19 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Mirković had a 3-pointer and a layup in the final eight seconds of overtime to cut it to 90-88. Wisconsin’s Braeden Carrington made 1 of 2 free throws to make it a three-point game with 5.8 seconds left. But Wagler missed a 3-point attempt as time expired.

With 52 seconds to play in regulation, Blackwell made a pair of free throws to tie it at 78-78. Wagler missed the potential go-ahead jumper, and Blackwell missed a 3-point attempt in the final seconds to send it to overtime.

Boyd had Wisconsin’s first four points of overtime — and seven overall in the extra period — as the Badgers pulled away.

Illinois led by as many as 15 points midway through the second half but had trouble getting a defensive stop against the Badgers to let them back in the game.

Wisconsin cut into the lead with a 9-0 run, fueled by Blackwell and Boyd. The Badgers then took their first lead of the second half after Blackwell hit a 3-pointer to cut it to one point and Boyd followed with a pair of free throws with 4:50 to play.

The game went back and forth from there.

Illinois junior guard Andrej Stojaković missed the Illini’s overtime loss on Feb. 10 with a sprained ankle. His play helped Illinois stay in it early Friday. Stojaković had 12 first-half points and 17 overall. He hit a 3-pointer in the second half to even the score at 70 and then had a fast-break layup to make it 78-76.

The Illini trailed Wisconsin 10-5 early but went on a 23-3 run, sparked by eight straight points from Stojaković, including two baskets on spin moves in the paint. Zvonimir Ivišić added a dunk and a 3-pointer in the stretch.

Wisconsin clawed back with its own 12-0 run, fueled by eight points from guard Blackwell, but Illinois still went into halftime up 36-30.

Illinois also was missing senior guard Kylan Boswell in the first Wisconsin game, part of the seven games he missed with a fractured hand.

Boswell was back Friday, but he went to the bench with two fouls in the first minute, including a double technical foul on himself and Boyd after they trash-talked in each others’ faces. He finished with nine points.

Now Wisconsin gets to face top-seeded Michigan.

In the first quarterfinal of the day Friday, Ohio State hung in it with Michigan until the very end. It would have been a big favor to Wisconsin to knock off the regular-season Big Ten champion.

But Michigan held on for a 71-67 win behind 17 points, seven rebounds and two blocks from 7-foot-3 junior center Aday Mara.