13 seeded Chattanooga led this game for 39 minutes – but Illinois fought and fought and managed to survive. The CBS announcer just mentioned that Illinois led for only 25 seconds. Unfortunately for Chattanooga, it only matters who is leading when the clock strikes zero.

With under a minute and down 1, Illinois’ Coleman Hawkins was surprisingly fouled, but he missed the free throw. But Kofi Cockburn rebounded the miss and hit the short shot in the lane.

Chattanooga drove right back and Malachi Smith got fouled driving to the basket. Smith hit both free throws to regain the lead for the Mocs.

But it would be short-lived – after some good defense, Alfonso Plummer drove to the basket and was also fouled. Plummer, who hit some key three pointers to help Illinois climb back into the game, calmly hit nothing but net on both free throws to put Illinois ahead.

Malachi Smith drove to the basket with time running out just to get his shot blocked by Hawkins. Smith chased the ball down to the corner, made a nice move to get open from about 17 out, and his shot was just a little too strong as time ran out on Chattanooga.

It wasn’t pretty. But March doesn’t care about style points. Illinois wins 54-53 to sadly send 13th seeded Chattanooga home – survive and advance!!!