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Sports Friday, March 20, 2026 | | |
| | | | | Good morning, Chicago. Illinois needed a get-right game. The fans at Bon Secours Wellness Arena probably needed a rest from the nail-biters. The third-seeded Illini delivered both late Thursday night with a good old-fashioned blowout of No. 14 seed Penn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Illinois turned a 10-point halftime lead into a 105-70 rout, wearing Penn down with its powerful, deep offense to advance to Saturday’s second round against No. 11 seed VCU at 6:50 p.m. CT on CBS-2. Illinois’ Kylan Boswell (4) and Jake Davis slap hands during the first half against Penn in a first-round NCAA
Tournament game Thursday, March 19, 2026 in Greenville, S.C. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty) The first three games Thursday in Greenville were riveting. No. 9 seed TCU knocked off No. 8 Ohio State 66-64, and No. 16 Siena gave top-seeded Duke a serious scare in the East Region games. VCU then topped No. 6 North Carolina in overtime in the first of the South Region games. Today’s eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History | | | | Two months before Selection Sunday, a widespread college basketball game-fixing scandal was revealed. How can the NCAA stop it from happening again? | | | | | As the Chicago Cubs navigate building their bench, with Seiya Suzuki’s PCL sprain adding a wrinkle to their decisions, first baseman Jonathon Long isn’t out of the mix. | | | | | The Chicago Bears prioritized speed and athleticism on defense. Here’s what else stood out about their free-agent additions. | | | | | Illinois turned a 10-point halftime lead into a 105-70 rout, wearing Penn down with its powerful, deep offense to advance to Saturday’s second round against No. 11 seed VCU. | | | | | Duke’s Jon Scheyer said coach Gerry McNamara had his No. 16 seed Siena players “way more ready to play” in the first-round NCAA Tournament game Thursday. | | | | | Chicago Bulls guard Collin Sexton is all heart. But eight years into his professional career, it’s still unclear how that energy translates to the NBA. | | | |
