Illinois overwhelms Penn with 65-point second half

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- David Mirkovic had 29 points and 17 rebounds to help No. 3 seed Illinois breeze past No. 14 seed Penn in a 105-70 victory in a first-round East Region matchup on Thursday.

Keaton Wagler added 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Illinois (25-8), which advances to face No. 11 seed VCU on Saturday. Kylan Boswell scored 13 points, while Tomislav Ivisic and Ben Humrichous finished with 12 apiece. Illinois shot 15-for-36 (41.7%) on 3-point attempts in the easy win.

Michael Zanoni's 20 points led overmatched Penn (18-12), which was playing in its first NCAA Tournament since 2018. Cam Thrower scored 14 for the Quakers, who attempted just two free throws.

Zanoni hit 3-pointers on two straight Penn trips to cut the Quakers' deficit to nine with 16:45 left in the second half, before Wagler's five straight points and Boswell's layup stamped a 14-2 run to push Illinois' lead to 61-40.

A mini spurt got Penn within 17, but Mirkovic hit a pair of 3-pointers as part of a 19-4 run that gave the Fighting Illini an 83-51 lead with 7:01 remaining. The onslaught continued as Ivisic and Humrichous drilled back-to-back treys to push the advantage to 93-55.

Illinois hit the century mark for the fourth time this season as reserve Brandon Lee's free throws extended the lopsided score to 100-60.

Illinois built an early eight-point edge on Wagler and Mirkovic's back-to-back 3-pointers. The Fighting Illini doubled their lead on Mirkovic's consecutive layups, going ahead 26-13 with 9:38 remaining in the opening half.

Penn answered with a 9-0 run, pulling within four on Zanoni's mid-range jumper.

Illinois opened the lead back up to 13 on Wagler's turnaround jumper in the paint, before TJ Power's 3-pointer beat the first-half buzzer, cutting Penn's deficit to 40-30.

--Jack Batten, Field Level Media