This Day In Illini Basketball History: March 16

Illinois has won a Big Ten tournament title (2003) and three NCAA tournament games (1989, 2001 and 2006) on March 16th.

The Illinois men’s basketball has a rich history of playing on March 16 that includes some of the memorable postseason moments of its program.

Due to the concerns over the COVID-19 novel coronavirus epidemic, the NCAA released a statement Thursday afternoon announcing an unprecedented decision of canceling the 2020 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. Therefore, Illini Now/Sports Illustrated will be detailing the Illini’s history on specific dates in March.

On March 16, Illinois has played nine games in its program history going back to the 1963 NCAA tournament and as recent as the 2008 Big Ten Conference tournament championship game. Illinois has won a Big Ten tournament title (2003) and three NCAA tournament games (1989, 2001 and 2006) including two as a 1-seed.

Here are the following games Illinois has played on March 16:

1963 - NCAA Mideast Regional Final - Loyola (Chicago) 79, Illinois 64

The Illini lost to the eventual national champion Ramblers (which is the still the only men’s basketball national championship team in the state of Illinois) in the regional final in East Lansing, Michigan. Dave Downey, who has his number in the rafters of State Farm Center, was a leader on this Illini team, which tied for a Big Ten Conference title, led by head coach Harry Combes that would finish the 1962-63 season ranked No. 8. It would be the final team Combes would lead to the NCAA tournament. The Ramblers would go on to defeat Duke and Cincinnati to win the national title. Another starter and leader on this 1963 Illini team was guard Bill Small, who is the father of current Illinois men's golf coach Mike Small. 

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1986 - NCAA Southeast Regional 2nd Round - No. 5 Alabama 58, No. 4 Illinois 56

Two days after defeating Fairfield in the first round of the 1986 NCAA tournament, the No. 4-seed Illini fell behind Alabama by nine points in the first half in the Charlotte Coliseum. Tony Wysinger, a senior co-captain, led a 22-win Illinois team with 18 points off the bench but the Crimson Tide held Ken Norman to just 10 points due to foul trouble.

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1989 - NCAA Midwest Regional 1st Round - No. 1 Illinois 77, No. 16 McNeese State 71

The Flyin’ Illini’s run in the 1989 NCAA tournament began after the school earned its first ever No. 1 seed. Illinois overcame a slow first-half start to dispatch McNeese State thanks to 18 points from Kenny Battle, 17 points from Lowell Hamilton and a double-double from Nick Anderson (13 points, 12 rebounds and four steals). McNeese State got 28 points from guard Michael Cutright, who was drafted in the second round (No. 42 overall) by the Denver Nuggets.

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1997 - NCAA Southeast Regional 2nd Round - No. 14 Tennessee-Chattanooga 75, No. 6 Illinois 63

After Tennessee-Chattanooga upset No. 3-seed Georgia 73-70 in the first round, a lot of analysts and fans thought Illinois was being given a clear path to the Sweet 16 and possibly beyond (10-seed Providence got through the lower pod of the Southeast Regional) in the first season under head coach Lon Kruger. Illinois led 34-33 at halftime inside Charlotte Coliseum but UT-Chattanooga had five players get a double-figure scoring effort and they held Illini leading scorer Kiwane Garris to a 5 of 14 shooting effort and guard Kevin Turner was just 2 of 8.

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Illinois guard Frank Williams with a behind-the-back pass to Marcus Griffin for a dunk in the 96-54 win over Northwestern State in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament / CBS Sports archive

2001 - NCAA Midwest Regional 1st Round - No. 1 Illinois 96, No. 16 Northwestern State 54

In the first postseason game under new head coach Bill Self, top-seeded Illinois ran to a 10-0 lead in the opening 100 seconds of the game. Marcus Griffin scored 16 points, leading six players in double figures for Illinois. The Illini also dominated the boards 44-27, scoring half of their points from in the key against the smaller Demons.

The highlight moment of this game was Frank Williams, the Big Ten's player of the year honoree, stole a crosscourt pass and smoothly flipped a no-look pass behind his back to a trailing Griffin, who finished the play with a two-handed dunk. Williams had 11 points and eight assists in 30 minutes.

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2003 - Big Ten Tournament Final - Illinois 72, Ohio State 59

Illinois won the school’s first league tournament at the United Center with a dominating victory over Ohio State. Roger Powell scored 16 points, and Sean Harrington had four 3-point shots to lead the Illini in the title game. James Augustine had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds to help Big Ten player of the year honoree Brian Cook only shooting 4 of 16 from the field.

Illinois held the Buckeyes without a field goal for almost seven minutes midway through the first half while it ripped off an 11-3 run. Powell started it with a driving layup, and Cook capped it by making a free throw after a technical foul to give Illinois a 33-20 lead, its largest of the half. Dee Brown was held to 2 of 11 from the field but the Illini defense held down an Ohio State team to just 25 percent shooting in the first half as they were playing its fourth game in four days.

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2006 - NCAA Washington, D.C. Regional 1st Round - No. 4 Illinois 78, No. 13 Air Force 69

In the last NCAA tournament game that Illinois would win in the Dee Brown-James Augustine era, the Illini shot 58 percent from the field despite only getting a 1 of 7 shooting effort from Brown. In San Diego, Brown made up for his shooting woes by nearly getting a triple-double as he added nine assists and a career-high nine rebounds. Jamar Smith had six 3-pointers among his team-high 20 points off the bench.

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2007 - NCAA West Regional 1st Round - No. 5 Virginia Tech 54, No. 12 Illinois 52

After getting one of the final at-large bids in the NCAA tournament field, Illinois nearly pulled off a 5-12 upset as they led by 10 with just over four minutes left, but didn't score in the last 4:28 of the game to let this game in Columbus, Ohio slip away.

"It's an understatement to say we're disappointed," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said after the loss. "But it's kind of typical of our season. We've led in something like eight or nine of our 12 losses, but just couldn't finish the game."

Warren Carter led the Illini with 15 points, and Rich McBride had 14 before leaving in the final minutes with cramps. Illinois, which had won their last nine NCAA tournament first-round games, missed their last seven shots from the field and had three turnovers.

This game was marred by then-athletics director Ron Guenther angrily yelling during the contest at Weber and Carter according to a CBSSports.com report.

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2008 - Big Ten Tournament Final - Wisconsin 61, Illinois 48

Illinois came one win away from the second team to qualify for the NCAA field with a losing record in that season, being the lowest seed to win the Big Ten tournament, and the only one to win four games in as many days to claim the championship. With the loss, Illinois' streak of nine straight NCAA tournament appearances ended. Brian Butch scored 12 points to lead the defensive-heavy Wisconsin team to the Big Ten tournament title in Indianapolis. Marcus Landry, the tournament's most outstanding player, had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. Shaun Pruitt led the Illini with 13 points and eight rebounds in the final game of his college career.

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