March Madness: Will Riley shines as Illinois basketball stymies Xavier, moves on to play Kentucky

MILWAUKEE - At the 3:31 mark, Illinois basketball had not scored for about a three-minute stretch.

Freshman Will Riley took the biggest shot of his Illinois career. A 3-pointer snapped through the nylon and put the Illini back up 11.

That moment, plus a steal and score by Kasparas Jakucionis right after, created enough momentum to vault Illinois into the second round. 

The Illini survived and advanced Friday night, eliminating Xavier 86-73 in Milwaukee.

Here are our takeaways from Illinois' first-round tilt with Xavier in the NCAA Tournament.

The Illini didn't blink on the national stage

On Thursday, Illinois indicated it wasn't fair to judge this team for its midseason struggles. The team wasn't whole then.

Illinois is whole now. That manifested in four of the Illini's five starters finishing in double figures.

Riley, Jakucionis, Tomislav Ivisic and Kylan Boswell all finished in double figures in scoring.

Riley nailed the coffin shut on Xavier with a shot-clock beating three with 1:50 left to put Illinois up 15 points.

Self-inflicted wounds limited Illini

Illinois built leads of nine in the first half and 14 in the second half.

When the Illini were on a roll, they were hard to stop. But, they still stopped themselves.

Xavier had four turnovers at the under-eight timeout. Illinois had 12 turnovers. Illinois finished with 14 turnovers on the night.

They also had poorly timed fouls, like a foul on a 3-pointer that kept the Illini from building a lead even further.

Those fouls and turnovers were the reason Illinois lost control of its momentum.

Self-inflicted wounds won't sink the Illini when the margin of error isn't slim. That was the case against Xavier.

That might not be the case against Kentucky. 

Most notable performance: Will Riley

The freshman was playing in his first-career NCAA Tournament game. He didn't look like it.

Riley took center stage as a wing player teams build their programs around. He shot the ball well, was a force on offense and showed up on the defensive end.

When Riley drove the ball on offense, he did so with purpose. He was deep in his bag, showing off his moves to get to the basket. He showed off his patience, knowing when to pass the ball back out and reset.

He did this near the beginning of the second half where he reset and cut to the basket. Ivisic connected with Riley on a pass and Riley finished with a slam.

Riley, the 2025 Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year, showed he has the skills to be a cornerstone piece for the Illini next season. He led all Illini players with 22 points.