How Illinois can knock off Penn and keep dancing

· Yahoo Sports

ITHACA, NY - MARCH 14: Pennsylvania Quakers Head Coach Fran McCaffery cuts down the net after winning the Ivy League Women's Basketball Championship game between the Harvard Crimson and the Princeton Tigers on March 14, 2026, at Newman Arena in Itaca, NY. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The stage is set.

Illinois will open its NCAA Tournament run Thursday night in Greenville, South Carolina against the Penn Quakers.

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Nothing like an Ivy League matchup in mid-March.

On paper, it looks like the Illini should pull out a comfortable win. FanDuel Sportsbook opened the line Sunday night at Illinois -22.5 — which would be the kind of score we often saw when Illinois played a mid- or low-major opponent this season.

But, alas, it’s March, and anything can happen.

Here are three keys to Illinois pulling out the win over Penn on Thursday and advancing to the Round of 32 to face either UNC or VCU.

Be The Bigger Team

This one should be obvious. We heard it all season long: Illinois is the tallest team in the country.

And it paid off for much of the season, as the Illini were among the nation’s best at rebounding the ball. Take as many threes as you please, because, odds are, you’ll get a bunch of those offensive boards.

This season, the Quakers slightly out-rebounded their opponents — 36.4-36.1.

Star forward TJ Power is the tallest player in Penn’s rotation at 6-foot-9. Illinois needs to do what it can to exploit that by establishing post touches and attacking the rim.

Expect a big night from the Ivisic boys — which would be a welcome sign heading into the next round.

Stop the Luck

Seems weird, but stay with me.

According to KenPom, Penn is the 34th-luckiest team in the country this season. Illinois has been the 305th luckiest, or 60th unluckiest.

It took a remarkable effort for Power and the Quakers to pull off the win over Yale on Sunday in the Ivy League Championship, and it’s taken an equally remarkable effort for Illinois to lose four overtime matchups in the past month.

Control the ball, don’t turn it over, and step on their throats. Don’t get complacent when the Illini jump out to a 15-point first-half lead, and don’t let them have the luck of the Quakers on their side come the final buzzer.

Brad vs. Fran

What I’ve been neglecting so far in this article is the man who leads Penn: former Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery.

We all remember the iconic sideline battles between Brad and Fran, and who could forget our beloved FranCon Meter.

It’s been quite impressive seeing Fran go from forced out of Iowa City last March to leading his alma mater back to the promised land, but his teams were struggling in the Big Ten in recent years — especially against the Illini — so it’d be no shock to see that be the case again in the NCAA Tournament.

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