HOUSTON, Tx. (WAND) - Over two months ago, Illinois men's basketball made the trip to Iowa City to play the Hawkeyes for their regular season …

Illinois is in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament thanks in large part to players recruited from Eastern Europe. Coach Brad Underwood’s third-seeded Illini meet Big Ten foe and No. 9 seed Iowa Thursday night in the NCAA Tournament’s South Region final with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Led by first-year coach Ben McCollum Iowa is in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1987. The Illini will try to end Iowa’s charmed March run with a roster that includes four players from Eastern Europe and Andrej Stojakovic, who was born in Greece, but whose father is Serbian three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic.

David Mirkovic had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and third-seeded Illinois flexed its defensive muscles to eliminate last year’s national runner-up from the NCAA Tournament, beating Houston 65-55 in the South Region semifinals. Next up is a meeting Saturday with ninth-seeded Iowa to see which Big Ten team will advance to the Final Four. It will be the 11th Elite Eight appearance for Illinois and its second in three seasons under Brad Underwood. The second-seeded Cougars were thrilled to be playing a game just over two miles from their campus. But their poor shooting gave Houston fans little to cheer about.