The Illinois men’s basketball team defeated Xavier 86-73 Friday night in the opening round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament ...

After battling with Xavier throughout the first half, and carrying just a five-point lead into halftime, Illinois broke the game open in the second half, scoring 46 points and ultimately pulling away ...

Xavier made a final push to cut Illinois' lead to eight with just over four minutes left, but Jakucionis set up Riley for another three and then dropped in a layup of his own to quell the threat.