Illinois coach Brad Underwood was in disbelief Friday night at PPG Paints Arena following the fourth-seeded Illini’s 54-53 victory over No. 13 Chattanooga in an NCAA Tournament South Region first-round game.

Believe it, coach. In the end, the final score is all that matters.

“We live to play another day,” Underwood said.

Alfonso Plummer’s two free throws with 12 seconds left provided the margin of victory for Illinois (23-9), which advances to Sunday’s second round against No. 5 Houston.

“Survive and advance. That’s pretty much the theme of that game,” said a visibly relieved Underwood, whose team led for just 25 seconds, all during the final minute.

The Illini trailed for nearly the entire game but found a way to steal a victory when Chattanooga star sophomore Malachi Smith, the Southern Conference Player of the Year, missed a pull-up jumper as time expired to thwart the Mocs’ bid to become the seventh double-digit seed to snatch a victory.

In one final chance to send Chattanooga to its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1997, Smith tracked down the ball and released a shot that bounced off the rim after moments earlier having his driving layup blocked by Illinois’ Coleman Hawkins.

“It’s frustrating because it’s a shot I work on a lot, and it didn’t go in,” Smith said of his errant buzzer-beater. “That’s all I can say. I just let my teammates down, and I just missed a shot that I usually make.”

As noticeable as Underwood’s emotions were, Chattanooga coach Lamont Paris appeared similarly shaken.

“I don’t know,” Paris said with a blank stare. “This is an incredible group to be around. It’s very hard for me to even look at the future, honestly, and what that’s going to look like. But I’m really entrenched and focused on these guys and what they’ve done and how they’ll respond to this.”

Kofi Cockburn led Illinois, the Big Ten’s regular-season co-champion, with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Plummer added 15 points, including several key 3-point shots in the second half, and Hawkins chipped in 10 for the Illini.

Smith led Chattanooga (27-8) with 12 points but shot just 4 for 20, the last two attempts resulting in painful misses.

“We just kind of hung in there,” Underwood said. “(But) I told Lamont they played better than us, and we just happened to have more points than them at the end, and we led at the right time.

“I’ve been in this thing enough to know it’s literally just every game is gonna be close, and there’s very few blowouts. Literally, you take them any way you can get them.”

Illinois, which didn’t gain its first lead until Cockburn’s putback with 45 seconds left, survived despite shooting an anemic 3 for 17 (17.6 %) from 3-point range.

“What allowed us to pick it up was connectivity. We were really together,” Cockburn said. “We kept elevating each other, picking each other up. Whenever Coleman would make a bad play, I would make a bad play. We would pick each other up. We trust each other, and we basically use that trust to build chemistry and play harder.”

Darius Banks grabbed 13 rebounds for Chattanooga, which held a 43-41 edge on the boards. Cockburn, a candidate for the Wooden Award as national player of the year, also registered three of Illinois’ four blocks.

With Pro Football Hall of Famer and Chattanooga alum Terrell Owens looking on and to the cheers of “Let’s go, Mocs! Let’s go, Mocs!” Chattanooga responded. The Mocs heard their fans loud and clear, but they came up agonizingly just short.

“Even though I’m not a senior, it still hurts because every day is not promised,” Smith said. “These type of moments don’t come all the time.”

Chattanooga, which shot just 32.3%, walked a tightrope while leading for nearly the entire way. The Mocs burst out of the gate at halftime and scored seven consecutive points to force an Illinois timeout after KC Hankton’s 3-point shot gave them a 40-29 advantage.

A 10-0 Illinois run, accentuated by back-to-back 3-pointers by Plummer, pulled the Illini within 40-39 with 12:16 left. Until then, Illinois had missed its first nine attempts from beyond the arc.

Chattanooga remained on top, though Plummer’s 3-pointer with 6:23 left cut the Mocs’ lead to 48-46. Grant Ledford answered nearly 2 minutes later for Chattanooga with a 3-pointer to push the lead to 51-46.

Chattanooga, back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016, wasted no time getting the upper hand and led by as many as 14 points in the first half.

Illinois chipped away and trailed just 33-29 at halftime behind 13 points from Cockburn, who faced double-teams by a number of Chattanooga players.

“For the most part, he earned a lot of the stuff that he got. And he’s a good player,” Paris said.

A 10-0 run carried Chattanooga to a 14-3 lead.

The Mocs stretched their advantage to 20-6 with 11:04 remaining before halftime on a driving layup by David Jean-Baptiste, the hero in their scintillating one-point victory over Furman last week to win the Southern Conference Tournament championship and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

Illinois managed to cut the deficit to 22-16 on back-to-back baskets by Hawkins, including a dunk with 5:51 left.

Chattanooga went back up by double digits and led 27-16 before Illinois went on a 9-0 run to trail 27-25 with 1:59 remaining. But the Illini couldn’t pull in front and settled for their four-point deficit at the break.

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