There are some games that stay with you no matter how much time passes, and for the Illinois Fighting Illini, nothing hits quite like that night against the Arizona Wildcats in 2005. It wasn’t just a comeback.
It was one of those moments where everything feels lost, and then somehow, possession by possession, it starts to come back. Down 15 points with just over four minutes left, Illinois looked done. The building had gone quiet. Arizona was in control.
And then something shifted. Shots started falling. Stops started stacking. The noise came back. And by the time it reached overtime, it didn’t feel impossible anymore. It felt inevitable…