Illinois defeats Iowa, advances to Final Four in March Madness tournament; Purdue facing Arizona | Latest Sports News

Illinois defeated Iowa Saturday, advancing to the Final Four in the March Madness tournament for the first time in 21 years.

Purdue is taking on Arizona Saturday night

March Madness fans attended watch parties in Chicago for the college basketball games.

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Given the success Illinois coach Brad Underwood has had with recruits from Eastern Europe, he plans to keep adding such players to his team and is sure that many others will follow suit.

Underwood’s third-seeded Illini met Big Ten foe and No. 9 seed Iowa Saturday night in the NCAA Tournament’s South Region final with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Led by first-year coach Ben McCollum, who won four Division II national titles at Northwest Missouri State, Iowa was in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1987.

Illinois has earned its sixth trip to the Final Four and first since 2005, while Iowa had hoped to return to the national semifinals for the first time since 1980 and fourth overall. Neither school has won a national title.

A buzzer malfunction caused a delay – a very loud, very unpleasant delay – of about 10 minutes in the first half of the NCAA Tournament’s South Region final between Iowa and Illinois on Saturday night.

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When the buzzer sounded out of a media timeout with 7:43 left in the first half, it kept blaring uninterrupted for about seven minutes. Players stood on the court ready to play for a couple of minutes before both teams started to warm up as the buzzer continued to sound.

It was finally silenced, to cheers from the crowd, but then the main scoreboard and video screen that hangs over the middle of the court went dark.

The game ultimately resumed with the big scoreboard still off. Two smaller scoreboards at each end of the arena were working.

As the Fighting Illini took on the Hawkeyes in the Elite Eight, there were be new liquor laws in place in Champaign, Illinois. The mayor signed an executive order, citing concerns to public health.

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After 3 p.m. Saturday, bars and restaurants cannot serve alcohol in glass containers. And retailers are banned from selling packaged alcohol or to-go cocktails after 6 p.m. Alcohol deliveries are also being banned after 6 p.m.

The restrictions will remain in place until 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

As the Fighting Illini take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Elite Eight, there will be new liquor laws in place in Champaign.

Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer began their time at Purdue with a lopsided win at Mackey Arena against Milwaukee.

With a win against top-seeded Arizona in the NCAA Tournament’s West Region final on Saturday night, the trio of stars can end their decorated careers a short drive from campus on college basketball’s biggest stage: the Final Four in Indianapolis.

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The four-year journey for Smith, Kaufman-Renn and Loyer has been a bit of a roller coaster, with some heartbreaking lows like losing as a No. 1 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Fairleigh Dickinson as freshmen and exhilarating highs like reaching the title game the following season. This year, the second-seeded Boilermakers beat Texas in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night on a last-second tip-in by Kaufman-Renn.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.