Illinois getting ready for UConn in Final Four showdown as Fighting Illini fans pack Indianapolis

The Final Four hype machine was cooking with gas at Lucas Oil Stadium on Indianapolis as the four NCAA Tournament semifinalists held open practices.

The stadium was pumping with a whole lot of orange and blue Friday morning when Illinois took the court first.

Thousands of Fighting Illini fans were in the stands, cheering on their favorite team as they chase Illinois' first national championship. They were warming up their vocal cords for Saturday night's semifinal showdown with UConn, when Illinois will have a decided crowd advantage being so close to Champaign and Chicago.

UConn's, Michigan's, and Arizona's crowds didn't come close to all the orange and blue in the stands supporting the Illini.

Head coach Brad Underwood is loving every second of the Illini takeover in Indianapolis.

"That's why I came to Illinois. We come for a lot of different reasons, but when you know basketball is important and you've got a fanbase like that, have them turn out – we heard students, elementary schools, middle schools took field trips here – come on, man, if that doesn't talk to you, then you're not human," he said.

Instead of being distracted by the hoopla, Illini guard Keaton Wagler said the team is feeding off the overwhelming support from the Illini Nation as they try to bring home the first national championship in school history.

"It gives us a big boost in energy, I would say, and I feel like even if it wasn't this close, I feel like still a lot of our fans would come out to the game," he said. "Any game that we've gone to, there's been a lot of our fans there. It's really cool to see how many fans we have there, and how much they love us."

The Illini are looking at payback from their loss to UConn at Madison Square Garden in late November, as well as their blowout loss to the Huskies in the Elite 8 in 2024.

Injured redshirt junior Ty Rodgers is the only starter left on the roster from that disaster couple of years ago. The huskies took another bite out of the Illini in their double-digit win on Black Friday this season. Fabulous freshmen Keaton Wagler and David Mirkovic combined for just 11 points in that game. After that early loss, Underwood switched Wagler to point guard, which resulted in an All-American season.

"A lot more versatile. Like I said, you know, I'm on the ball now. It gives opportunities for Kylan to run, Andrej [Stojakovic] to run when that opportunity's there," Wagler said.

Wagler said he was still finding his way as a freshman in only his 8th game in the first matchup against UConn.

"At that point, I didn't really fully know what my role was, I would say; but now I fully know what that is, and I think I'm ready for the opportunity," he said.

We'll see if the overwhelming fan support can get the No. 3-seed Illini over the hump Saturday against No. 2-seed UConn.