Illinois overwhelms Penn with 65-point second half
Illinois overwhelms Penn with 65-point second half
Field Level MediaFri, March 20, 2026 at 4:06 AM UTC
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Illinois Fighting Illini guard Keaton Wagler (23) is defended by Penn Quakers guard AJ Levine (0) Thursday, March 19, 2026, during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament first round game at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. (Alex Martin/Greenville News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- David Mirkovic had 29 points and 17 rebounds to help No. 3 seed Illinois breeze past No. 14 seed Penn in a 105-70 victory in a first-round East Region matchup on Thursday.
Keaton Wagler added 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Illinois (25-8), which advances to face No. 11 seed VCU on Saturday. Kylan Boswell scored 13 points, while Tomislav Ivisic and Ben Humrichous finished with 12 apiece. Illinois shot 15-for-36 (41.7%) on 3-point attempts in the easy win.
Michael Zanoni's 20 points led overmatched Penn (18-12), which was playing in its first NCAA Tournament since 2018. Cam Thrower scored 14 for the Quakers, who attempted just two free throws.
Zanoni hit 3-pointers on two straight Penn trips to cut the Quakers' deficit to nine with 16:45 left in the second half, before Wagler's five straight points and Boswell's layup stamped a 14-2 run to push Illinois' lead to 61-40.
A mini spurt got Penn within 17, but Mirkovic hit a pair of 3-pointers as part of a 19-4 run that gave the Fighting Illini an 83-51 lead with 7:01 remaining. The onslaught continued as Ivisic and Humrichous drilled back-to-back treys to push the advantage to 93-55.
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Illinois hit the century mark for the fourth time this season as reserve Brandon Lee's free throws extended the lopsided score to 100-60.
Illinois built an early eight-point edge on Wagler and Mirkovic's back-to-back 3-pointers. The Fighting Illini doubled their lead on Mirkovic's consecutive layups, going ahead 26-13 with 9:38 remaining in the opening half.
Penn answered with a 9-0 run, pulling within four on Zanoni's mid-range jumper.
Illinois opened the lead back up to 13 on Wagler's turnaround jumper in the paint, before TJ Power's 3-pointer beat the first-half buzzer, cutting Penn's deficit to 40-30.
--Jack Batten, Field Level Media
Source: “AOL Sports”
