HOUSTON — David Mirković could feel himself on the edge of tears as Illinois began to inch away from Iowa in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight on Saturday night.

He fought it until the final moments, when Keaton Wagler dribbled slowly down the court, raising his right arm up and down to the cheers of the orange-clad fans at the Toyota Center. Mirković took a straight line toward Wagler, slapping his hand and then bringing him in for a long hug — two freshmen raised 5,000 miles apart who came together to help the Illini reach their first Final Four since 2005.

And then, in the revelry that followed, the flood of tears came.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling when the whole year you believe in something,” Mirković said. “After some bad games, anyone doubts you and thinks you’re not good. But you just know you’re good. You believe in each other. But you just have to wait and be patient to prove all that.

“When that moment came, it was such a beautiful feeling.”

Wagler and Mirković have been the beautiful revelations that have cemented this team as one of the best in Illinois history ahead of the national semifinal against Connecticut at 5:09 p.m. Saturday in Indianapolis.

The Illini have made their tournament run on the versatility and depth of talent among their players, most of whom had college basketball experience entering this season.

Senior guard Kylan Boswell returned to Champaign to bring back his leadership and defensive grit. Twin junior centers Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivišić reunited upon Zvonimir’s transfer from Arkansas to provide formidable 7-foot-plus pieces inside who can also shoot. Junior wing Andrej Stojaković brought his downhill scoring ability from California, where he was the leading scorer. Veteran forwards Ben Humrichous and Jake Davis returned to be the utility guys — shooters who also do the unheralded tasks that don’t always stuff the stats sheets but are key to winning games.

Then there are the freshmen, who have risen to the occasion again and again this season to make their mark and draw national attention in their own unique ways.

Mirković, a 6-foot-9 forward from Nikšić, Montenegro, is a social media clip waiting to happen, goofy, spirited and just off-the-cuff enough to become a fan favorite. But he backs it up with a fierce competitiveness. After Mirković totaled 29 points and 17 rebounds in the first-round win over Penn, Illinois coach Brad Underwood said he “just wants to rip your head off” on the court. His versatility showed up in the South Region games in Houston, where he totaled 23 points, 22 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.

Wagler, a 6-foot-6 guard from Shawnee, Kan., has a story told by most national media outlets at this point — a skinny high schooler with just two Power 4 offers who has become a projected NBA draft lottery pick in a matter of months. He appears chill in almost every situation, be it media interviews or the biggest games of his life. He scored 25 points in Illinois’ Elite Eight win — and 70 points in the four NCAA Tournament games — to be named the region’s most outstanding player.

“To think he’s a year removed from high school and a state championship, and here he is the South Region MVP and leading the team to the Final Four,” Underwood said. “What he’s done is nothing short of remarkable. He’s done it with class, the highest character. He has been unflappable.

“He gets his ball taken on the first possession of the (Iowa) game and ends up with 25. The other night (against Houston) he had 12 rebounds in a game he was considered too weak to play in. There’s not enough adjectives or positive things to say about him. He plays the game the right way, and he’s a better human being than he is a player.”

Now both arrive at the biggest stage in college basketball this weekend.

In the spotlight

Mirković came up with a goal in between Illinois’ NCAA Tournament stints in Greenville, S.C., and Houston.

He had been a force in the Illini’s first-round win and finished the first weekend with 36 points, 22 rebounds and seven assists. This was not an on-court goal.

“My goal was to not make any quotes that were going to go viral, to be more locked in and more professional,” Mirković said Friday. “I think I’m doing well.”

And then he added, with a smile: “Yesterday, it was hard. But it’s not my fault.”

A day earlier, after Mirković totaled 14 points and 10 rebounds in the Illini’s Sweet 16 win over Houston, he tried to keep his composure in a postgame TV interview as Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivišić mussed his hair. After Tomislav whispered in his ear, reporter Lauren Shehadi asked what his teammate said.

“I can’t tell you,” Mirković said with a straight face. “Secret. No, I can’t. Secret. Secret.”

The clip circulated all over social media. So did the video of Mirković trying to pull down the basketball net after the Elite Eight win — rather than cut it with scissors.

The Illinois men’s basketball account on X, formerly Twitter, posted a clip of a postgame celebration featuring Mirković sitting on top of a locker during the Illini’s traditional squirt gun fight. He wore a cowboy hat he ordered on Amazon on the plane from Champaign to Houston and had on for all of his postgame interviews. The post had 268,000 views as of Tuesday afternoon.

Mirković not go viral with all of this added attention? Good luck with that.

“Anything is possible with David,” Underwood said when asked about the cowboy hat. “He’ll probably be wearing boots and shorts the rest of the night. He’s never light on fun and keeping it light. That’s just David.”

Meanwhile, Wagler was the player selected to do the postgame TV interview after the Illini advanced to the Final Four.

Teammates put a towel on him and adjusted a black Final Four ballcap on his head, and he stayed as composed as ever, brightening with a big smile when Shehadi asked for a message to Illini fans.

“Shoutout Illini nation,” he said as fans at the Toyota Center cheered. “I know they’re going crazy right now. I love all y’all. I-L-L baby!”

Wagler said after the first-round win over Penn that he had been nervous for a few minutes, but it subsided quickly. Since then, he said, excitement has replaced the nervousness.

Coaches have said all season that he doesn’t get rattled easily, and that has extended to the tournament, both on and off the court, where he has comfortably handled the attention.

“It’s really cool to see people starting to realize how good of a team we are,” Wagler said. “We all knew how good of a team we are. Just losing a couple of games we shouldn’t have made people think whatever. The media attention is really cool. At the end of the day, we don’t pay all that much attention to it. We stay focused and try to get better each day.”

Wagler’s most viral moment Saturday came not in an interview, but in the second half of a back-and-forth game.

‘Just extraordinary’

Illinois trailed by one point with 12:15 to play when Wagler took two hard dribbles to his right at Iowa’s Isaia Howard. The Illinois freshman then spun to his left and hopped back behind the 3-point line, swishing his second 3-pointer of the night.

Howard was knocked so off-balance by the move, he was under the basket to catch the ball as it came through the net.

Wagler’s stepback 3s, among his variety of moves, are nothing new to fans who have followed Illinois all season. Despite Wagler coming in unheralded, Illini coaches and players knew they had something special from the moment they started practices over the summer, and Wagler proved it during the regular season with big performances in big games, including his 46 points at Purdue for a Mackey Arena opponent record and his 28 points at Nebraska on back-to-back weekends.

Against Iowa on Saturday, he overcame a slow start, and his 14 second-half points were crucial, including another spin move followed by a scoop-and-score high off the glass four minutes after halftime.

When he has had more conservative nights shooting, he has found other ways to make an impact. Against Houston, he totaled 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in the defensive battle, saying afterward a coach challenged him to get 10 boards. He has averaged 17.9 points, five rebounds and 4.3 assists this season.

Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman said Wagler’s run, which will earn him a banner at State Farm Center for being named a second-team All-American, has been “just extraordinary.”

“You think about all the years we’ve been playing basketball at the University of Illinois, and we’ve had some really special freshmen who have come through here, and nobody statistically and from a winning perspective has done what he’s been able to do,” Whitman said. “To know that this time last year he’s still in high school, and now he’s an All-American, the regional player of the tournament, and he’s a key member of the Final Four team, it’s just an amazing story.

“I give so much credit to his family, to his coaches. He’s one of the more grounded individuals I’ve ever met, and for him to have the humility and the work ethic he does coming in here I think has been an important part of the success that he’s been able to enjoy.”

Mirković’s play wasn’t as flashy Saturday, but the versatile forward, who has a point guard background, had many big moments throughout the tournament, and in the Elite Eight win notably grabbed 12 rebounds.

His and-one inside gave Illinois its first lead of the game early in the second half, and he finished on a Wagler feed to put the Illini ahead again later. His drive and floating feed to Zvonimir Ivišić was part of Illinois’ finishing spurt against Iowa.

Coaches have said all season that Mirković, armed with an intense competitiveness, would get far more attention for what he’s doing on the court if he weren’t also playing with Wagler. He’s averaging 13.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in an all-Big Ten freshman team season. He owns the Illinois freshman record for rebounds with 292.

Underwood called him a “phenomenal talent” who puts in the work. He told reporters during his pre-practice media availability Tuesday that Mirković was the first one in the gym that morning getting his individual workout in.

The Ivišić twins played with Mirković in Montenegro when they were with SC Derby. Zvonimir Ivišić said basketball training there was different. There was no 24/7 access to gyms, but even then he could see how much Mirković wanted to get better.

“Just his work ethic,” Ivišić said of what has allowed Mirković to thrive. “He’s in the gym all day every day. He works hard on everything, on his body, on his shot, on his movements. And also his personality. His personality allows him to do a lot of things, which is a great characteristic for him.”

The similar drives of Wagler and Mirković are one of the things that have bonded them.

Shared mindset

The chemistry on and off the court among the Illini, with a unique blend of U.S. and European players, has been evident throughout this tournament run as more media access has given a bigger window into their personalities.

Mirković said he feels a special connection to Wagler as two of the younger players on the team. They have similar hobbies. Both enjoy watching a lot of NBA and playing NBA 2K.

And they have a similar mindset, too.

Though they’re from different countries, both were raised in basketball families with parents who greatly influenced their training. Mirković’s mother played professionally in Europe and taught him. Wagler’s parents and siblings all played, and he was always in the gym with them.

Wagler’s first impression of Mirković was that he was goofy, but then he saw how fiery he could be on the court. Wagler is competitive and hates to lose, too. He figured they were going to get along then.

Despite playing different positions, Mirković said they are similar on the court with their basketball IQs, skills and unselfishness.

“I think we both learned you don’t have to be the most athletic or fastest person on the court,” Wagler said. “You can play at your own pace and still be as good as anyone. We both do the right things, and we both want to win. It doesn’t matter if we score however many points. If we’ve got to go in and pass to get assists, rebound, we’ll do that.”

That approach has paid huge dividends, and they both credit the depth of the Illinois team with helping them to succeed. Multiple players can carry the Illini if needed, and that allows them to play at their best.

“You are surrounded by great teammates that understand basketball, that are not selfish, that can space the floor, that are really good players too,” Mirković said. “Combined with a staff that has understanding of what you need on the court, what are your abilities and what benefits you can bring. They give us the freedom to play, and it’s just beautiful. It just flows.”

Neither freshman could be described as wide-eyed while they have made the run.

But when Wagler returned to the locker room Saturday night, a piece of the basketball net looped through his Final Four cap, he did express some wonder at how it has all unfolded.

“I definitely have some reality checks, like, ‘Wow, I’m really doing this right now,’” Wagler said. “To me, the outstanding player award is more of a team award than a player award. My teammates have had my back every game. I’ve had some games I didn’t play as well, and they had my back.

“Without these people, I wouldn’t get this award, so shout out to them.”

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