Illinois defeats Xavier 86-73 in 1st round of March Madness tournament
MILWAUKEE (WLS) -- University of Illinois fans and alumni were ready as the Fighting Illini headed into their first game of March Madness.
Illinois defeated Xavier University with a score of 86-73 Friday in Milwaukee.
The Illini will now play against 3rd-seeded Kentucky on Sunday.
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It feels like basketball fans have been waiting forever, but it's finally here. March Madness is underway, and there's no other tournament like it.
The 6th-seeded Illini had their dancing shoes on as they faced 11th-seeded Xavier.
Illinois is making a sixth straight tournament appearance, but they had never faced a play-in winner until Friday night.
Xavier brought more experience and momentum from Wednesday's win into the first round game
While the Illini had a full week off since losing to Maryland in the Big 10 quarterfinals, for a young team in new territory, coach Brad Underwood said he didn't hating the extra rest.
READ MORE | Illinois prepares to take on Xavier in 1st round of March Madness tournament
Pre-game stats
The Fighting Illini's record in Big Ten games is 13-9, and their record is 8-3 in non-conference games. Illinois leads the Big Ten with 83.8 points and is shooting 45.0%.
The Musketeers are 13-8 against Big East teams. Xavier is the best team in the Big East scoring 15.2 fast break points per game.
Illinois scores 83.8 points, 12.6 more per game than the 71.2 Xavier allows. Xavier has shot at a 46.9% rate from the field this season, 4.7 percentage points higher than the 42.2% shooting opponents of Illinois have averaged.
Jakucionis is scoring 15.0 points per game with 5.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists for the Fighting Illini. Will Riley is averaging 15.4 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting 48.8% over the last 10 games.
Ryan Conwell is shooting 41.7% from beyond the arc with 3.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Musketeers, while averaging 16.7 points. Zach Freemantle is averaging 18.7 points and 6.6 rebounds over the last 10 games.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
