The 2026 NCAA Tournament South Regional has come down to a Big Ten showdown. The No. 9 seed Iowa Hawkeyes and No. 3 seed Illinois Fighting Illini meet at Toyota Center in Houston with a Final Four berth on the line, and each team is carrying some injury baggage into the matchup.
Illinois vs. Iowa Injury Report for the Elite Eight
The injury reports heading into today’s game are as follows:
Illinois Fighting Illini
Toni Bilic, OUT (undisclosed)
Ty Rodgers, OUT (torn patellar tendon)
Jason Jakstys, OUT (blood clot)
Iowa Hawkeyes
Peyton McCollum, OUT (foot)
MARCH MADNESS: Fill In Your Bracket Now!
Illinois is clearly the more banged-up team, missing three players. The torn patellar tendon for Ty Rodgers is the grimmer of the two confirmed Illini injuries, as that type of injury ends a player’s season outright.
Iowa is only without Peyton McCollum, who has been sidelined with a foot injury. With nine Illinois players standing 6-foot-6 or taller, losing three rotation pieces hurts more than Iowa losing one. That depth question will matter late in the game.
Iowa vs. Illinois Elite Eight Preview and Prediction
That physicality is exactly what this rematch figures to bring. Illinois won the earlier meeting 75-69 in January, a game in which Iowa missed five straight shots. The Hawkeyes have looked like a completely different team since then.
They knocked off top-seeded Florida and then rallied past fourth-seeded Nebraska to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 1980. Bennett Stirtz has been the engine of it all, averaging 19.7 points and 4.4 assists per game and playing every minute across three games in this tournament.
On the Illinois side, freshman Keaton Wagler has been one of the biggest surprises in college basketball this year. He is averaging 17.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists while shooting 40.8% from three. Five Illini players average double figures, and their offense leads the country in offensive rating.
MORE: Which NCAA Teams Advanced to Elite 8? Every Team Still Alive in March Madness After Sweet 16
That firepower is exactly what makes pace so important for Iowa. Each of their three tournament wins featured the slowest game their opponent had played all season. Keep possessions low, and the talent gap shrinks. Let Illinois get into a rhythm offensively, and it becomes very hard to stop them.
Illinois has the size, the depth, and the defensive ability to make Stirtz work harder than he has all tournament. If Wagler finds his shot after a tough night against Houston, the Illini have enough to pull away. Iowa is a real threat, but Illinois looks like the team built for a deep March run.
