The Elite Eight officially tipped off its first game on Saturday as the Iowa Hawkeyes and Illinois Fighting Illini battled it out over a spot in the Final Four, but a wild equipment malfunction affected the game’s flow.
A horn typically sounds to signal player substitutions, timeouts, or the end of the first half and game. However, the first half of the Hawkeyes and Illini came to a noisy halt with 7:43 remaining on the game clock as the horn began to blare incessantly and nobody could seem to shut it off.
That constant noise kept going for about seven minutes, although some reports indicated it lasted longer. It had the commentators amused and discussing the impromptu delay, which allowed both teams a bit of an extended break.
It also meant that players were eventually allowed to shoot from racks of basketball and do various drills to keep themselves warmed up for when the game actually resumed, which it did.
Iowa-Illinois Delay: ‘Painful’ Horn Malfunction Interrupts Elite Eight Game
On Saturday evening, NCAA SVP Dan Gavitt released a statement explaining what went wrong and how they tried to remedy the situation, which included shutting down another major part of the game.
“An unfortunate equipment malfunction caused an 11-minute delay in today’s South Regional championship game between Illinois and Iowa. With 7:43 remaining in the first half, the scoreboard control system froze, which also caused the integrated horn to freeze as well, leading to the horn going off for approximately seven minutes,” Gavitt said in his statement.
“To silence the horn, building personnel had to shut down the main center-hung videoboard, which is connected to the horn. During the delay, teams were allowed to warm up on the court. The game clock and shot clock were not affected, and a manual horn is being used for the remainder of the game. There was an attempt to reset the center-hung videoboard at halftime, but the issue could not be resolved,” the statement said.
The interruption didn’t seem to affect the game too much, although individuals in the crowd were clearly bothered by it.
At the time the delay started, Iowa held a two-point lead. Once the game resumed, they immediately scored another layup to extend to four points, but Illinois fought back in the second half, ultimately seizing control of the game.
The No. 3 seed Illini defeated the Hawkeyes 71-59 behind 25 points from their freshman phenom Keaton Wagler.
Andrej Stojakovic came in off the bench to contribute 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while starter David Mirkovic had nine points and 12 rebounds.
With their victory, they’ve earned a spot in the Final Four, where they’ll now wait for the winner of the Duke Blue Devils and UConn Huskies game on Sunday, which fans are hoping lives up to all the hype it’s getting ahead of the matchup.
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