Illinois Basketball Coach Groce Fired, Michigan Wins Big 10 Tourney

Print

Published on March 13 2017 7:21 am
Last Updated on March 13 2017 7:27 am

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- Illinois basketball coach John Groce was fired Saturday after an 18-14 season in which his team was ninth in the Big Ten. The Illini made just one NCAA appearance in his five seasons at the school.

Assistant Jamall Walker was appointed interim coach while the school searches for a successor. Groce has two years left on his contract and will receive the balance, about $1.7 million.

''I've been evaluating the basketball program since I walked in the door a year ago. This wasn't the culmination of one game. It wasn't a single moment where, 'This is it; this can't continue,' " athletic director Josh Whitman said at a news conference. ''It was an assessment that has been ongoing for a long time. I made the decision today.''

Groce was considered one of the nation's hot coaches when he was hired in March 2012. He left Ohio University after coaching the Bobcats to an 85-56 record and two NCAA Tournament appearances in four seasons.

In five seasons at Illinois, Groce was 95-75 overall and 37-53 in Big Ten play. The Illini were 8-10 in the conference this season, ending the regular season with a loss to last-place Rutgers. They lost 75-55 to Michigan in their conference tournament opener.

''I take responsibility for everything,'' Groce said at the news conference. ''Have there been some challenges over the five years that maybe were outside our control here and there? Yeah. I always told the staff and taught the players that you point the finger at yourself when you're a leader.''

The lone NCAA appearance for Illinois under Groce came in his first year. Then things got worse the next four seasons. The wins dropped from 23 to 20 to 19 to 15 from the 2012-13 season to 2015-16. The postseason was the same story: The Illini went to the NCAA round of 32 his first season and two NIT appearances followed. They did not play in a postseason tournament last season.

The last time Illinois missed the NCAA Tournament four straight years was from 1976-80. The Illini likely will get an NIT bid Sunday.

''They've got (more) basketball to play this season, and there won't be a bigger fan of those guys than me,'' Groce said.

Groce said he had wanted to coach the team in the postseason.

''But that was not my choice,'' he said.

Whitman said it was imperative to let Groce go now instead of waiting until after the postseason.

''We're in a very competitive marketplace,'' Whitman said. ''This is essentially a game of musical chairs and we don't want to be the person left standing when the music stops in terms of identifying our next head coach. We needed to put ourselves in the right position to go out and move aggressively to identity who that coach might be.''

Groce followed two coaches who had enormous success at Illinois. Bill Self went 78-24 and left to take over at Kansas. Bruce Weber followed, went 210-101 and was honored as national coach of the year in 2005 when he took the Illini to the national championship game for the first time.

Whitman said he remembered those glory years as an undergraduate and law student at Illinois.

''I was here 10 years ago and saw the energy. I felt the environment at State Farm Center,'' he said. ''You couldn't find a ticket. Every game was an event, every fan was in an orange shirt. The waiting list was thousands of people long to get a season ticket... That was 10 years ago. If we're not careful, it'll be 30 years ago. That's what I can't allow to happen.''

Average attendance was 12,107 this season, the lowest since 1977-78 and down 20 percent since 2013-14. The decline was a factor in the decision, Whitman said, but not ''a driving force.''

Whitman went with a big name when he hired a new football coach two days after taking the job in early March 2016 - Lovie Smith, the former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach. Smith signed a six-year contract worth $21 million, including $2 million a year for the first two seasons.

Whitman said another splash hire is possible.

''We understand what's necessary to be competitive in today's environment,'' he said, ''and we're willing to do what we need to do on the financial side to be sure we get the best coach for our program.''

 

Michigan Wins Big Ten Tourney

Michigan completed a magical run to its first Big Ten Tournament title, using a swarming defense and accurate shooting to beat No. 24 Wisconsin 71-56 on Sunday for its fourth victory in four days.

The eighth-seeded Wolverines (24-11) began their journey with a scary skid off the airport runway in Michigan and ended it by overwhelming the second-seeded Badgers, who had won three straight - including the regular season finale against Minnesota - by a total of 55 points.

Between the aborted flight and their final unexpected victory, the Wolverines beat Illinois, eliminated top-seed Purdue and sent home No. 4 seed Minnesota.

And so, the first Big Ten Tournament in the nation's capital ended with a surprise champion cutting down the nets at Verizon Center. Michigan won the title in 1998 but had it vacated due to NCAA sanctions.

Derrick Walton Jr. scored 22 points, D.J. Wilson added 17 and Zak Irvin had 15 for Michigan, which had lost 17 of its previous 20 games against Wisconsin. The Wolverines shot 56 percent and were 10 for 23 from beyond the arc.

Bronson Koenig scored 15 points, and Nigel Hayes and Ethan Happ had 14 apiece for Wisconsin (25-9), which shot 39 percent from the field and scored only 24 points after halftime.

The Wolverines took control at the outset of the second half, holding Wisconsin without a field goal for the 8 minutes to turn a 33-32 halftime lead into a 44-34 advantage. Wisconsin went 0 for 8 from the field and committed four turnovers during the pivotal span.

After the Badgers threatened to make a game of it, Michigan had an answer.

It was 51-45 before Irvin and Duncan Robinson sandwiched 3-pointers around a basket by Hayes for a 10-point cushion with 3:51 left.

Not long after that, the thousands of Michigan fans in the large crowd began the countdown to the final buzzer.

Five players scored Michigan's first five baskets, and the Wolverines went 8 for 12 from the field in taking a 19-13 lead.

After Wisconsin closed to 21-20, Walton drilled three successive 3-pointers to increase the margin to double digits.

The Wolverines then went scoreless for nearly 4 minutes, and Wisconsin closed the half with a 12-3 run.