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Illinois Basketball: 5 biggest games in John Groce’s Illini career

By Rees Woodcock

Jan 7, 2017; Bloomington, IN, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach John Groce gives instructions to his team during a timeout during the second half of the game at Assembly Hall. The Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Illinois Fighting Illini 96 to 80. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 7, 2017; Bloomington, IN, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach John Groce gives instructions to his team during a timeout during the second half of the game at Assembly Hall. The Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Illinois Fighting Illini 96 to 80. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /
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Illinois v. Alabama March 17, 2015

I was completely on the Groce bandwagon at the beginning of his career with the Illini. He didn’t really get me double-thinking him as a head coach until the NIT game against Alabama in 2015.

Illinois had an okay year and they needed to win at least one game in the Big Ten tournament but failed to do so. They hit a wall and lost to Michigan by 18 points.

This made the NCAA selection committee ignore the Illini, but I was still hoping they would make a run in the NIT. That didn’t happen, though.

Illinois went into that first round against Alabama and laid a big egg. They were down 46-22 at halftime and the team didn’t show any signs of life. This was the first sign to me that Groce may not be the right person for the job.

That was a sad ending to some of the great careers in Illini history. It was sad to send off players like Rayvonte Rice and Nnanna Egwu. I didn’t want it to end like that and this game really started to turn my opinion of Groce and his career with the Illini.

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