Illinois basketball fell flat on Friday against Wisconsin, and the refs didn't help the matter.
Before any Wisconsin fans get into their feelings, I want to say this had zero part in the Illini losing. The Badgers were a better team, and they played with more heart and fire, especially in the second half.
With that being said, the refs were egregious on Friday. There were so many questionable foul calls against both teams, and late in the game, the granddaddy of them all came out of the woodwork.
Called a foul against Illinois. pic.twitter.com/PV2XxZKrM2
– (@_MarcusD3_) March 13, 2026
Illinois was trying to get back into the game. We had just narrowed the margin to four points with a free throw by David Mirkovic. A miss by the Badgers would have given Illinois a little momentum.
Well, that momentum was robbed from us with this mysterious foul call. Andrej Stojakovic isn't a good defender. I don't blame the refs for assuming that he was going to foul John Blackwell because that is just what Stojakovic does in crunch time.
And a mysterious foul call.
Awesome.#Illini
– Writing Illini (@WritingIlliniFS) March 13, 2026
It was clearly not a foul by Stojakovic, though. This was, shockingly, good defense by the son of a former NBA great. Illinois needed just one thing to go our way in the game, and we couldn't even get that to happen.
At the end of the day, this was just a microcosm of how Illinois' day went. We had a big double-digit lead in the second half, only to throw it right down the drain. The refs just added some unneeded salt to the wound that will hopefully heal by NCAA tournament time.
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This article was originally published on www.writingillini.com as New angle shows Illinois was robbed by refs with pathetic foul call vs Wisconsin.