Illini again prove they can win without Ayo
In the closing minutes as Wisconsin crept within a shot of a dramatic comeback, Illinois sure could have used its clutch player.
Badgers guard D’Mitrik Trice drained 3-pointers, cutting the Illini lead from 14 points with about six minutes left to one point with seven seconds remaining.
This is the point when Illinois fans have become accustomed to star guard Ayo Dosunmu hitting a shot that sets off a celebration.
But he was on the bench for a second straight game.
Dosunmu, known for his lategame heroics, is out indefinitely with a facial injury suffered Tuesday in a loss at Michigan State. But No. 5 Illinois managed to get the job done without him again Saturday in a 74-69 victory at No. 23 Wisconsin.
“We’re fighters,” senior Da’Monte Williams said.
Illinois (18-6, 14-4 Big Ten) had quite a week.
An injury to Dosunmu, a Big Ten and national player of the year candidate, was an obvious blow. The Big Ten dealt the Illini a schedule that included four games in eight days, squeezing in makeup games postponed because of COVID-19 issues in opponents’ programs.
Three of those games were on the road. They had just one day of preparation with travel for much of this brutal stretch. And yet, they’re surviving.
“I hope it means we’re arriving,” Underwood said, giving a nod to his coaching staff and players. “You can have a lot of good players, but if you don’t have the right culture, you’re not going to win. It’s a man down and you have to step up. Ayo is the best player in college basketball. I believe
that. For us to step up, that’s a great feeling.”
It wasn’t pretty.
Illinois committed 20 turnovers, which Wisconsin converted into 19 points. Williams was hit with a technical foul late in the game for unnecessarily jawing with a Wisconsin assistant coach. The Illini let the Badgers (16-9, 10-8) back in the game. But they escaped.
The Illini never trailed at the Kohl Center. After breaking a 15-game losing streak to Wisconsin last season, Illinois showed its ascendance in college basketball by now owning three straight victories against the Badgers.
The Illini completed their first regularseason sweep of Wisconsin since 2005.
Saturday’s victory could pay dividends for an already confident, experienced squad. Winning without Dosunmu proves they aren’t a one-man show to anyone who incorrectly thought otherwise and surely will be seen as a positive by the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
The Illini have embraced Underwood’s “bring it on” mentality.
“It’s a life lesson,” he said. “This team has resilience. This team has grit. This team has fight.”
Trice nearly single-handedly staged a comeback by scoring 19 points in the final 2:12. His sixth 3-pointer — and third in a row in the final minute — trimmed Illinois’ lead to 70-69 with 6.7 seconds left.
“I honestly don’t even know what was going through my mind,” Trice told reporters. “I just knew that we needed to hit some shots and make some buckets and make some plays down the stretch to be able to come back and be in the position we were in.”
Underwood called Trice “an elite guard” and “a terrific player.”
Wisconsin was shooting 17 of 62 (27.4%) before making its last seven attempts of the game. It was a defensive performance Underwood said he was “ecstatic” about.
Illinois responded by making its final five field-goal attempts and hitting all 10 of its free-throw attempts in the final 44 seconds.
Kofi Cockburn and Andre Curbelo led the way again, as they did Thursday in an 86-70 victory against Nebraska. Cockburn had 19 points and seven rebounds Saturday, while freshman Curbelo scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Williams scored 12 points, hitting a key late-game jumper for a 64-58 lead with 1:06 left.
The game featured a strange ending as Williams and Wisconsin’s bench were
tagged with technical fouls with 1 second on the clock. Williams and Badgers assistant Alando Tucker were seen in a verbal exchange near the Wisconsin bench as the Badgers prepared to huddle during a timeout.
Trevor Anderson missed two free throws for the Badgers, and Trent Frazier made both of his attempts.
“One of their players came into the huddle, which was not supposed to happen,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard told reporters. “The officials took care of that, and I thought handled it the right way.”
Underwood said referees didn’t explain to him the technical. Williams said, “It is what it is.” He noted he would learn from the experience and wanted to move on as he declined to elaborate on what sparked the confrontation.
Illinois is moving on to the toughest part of its regular-season schedule: the end.
The Illini play at No. 3 Michigan on Tuesday and at No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday before heading to the Big Ten Tournament. They’re hoping to do enough to earn a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed, which right now belongs to those two opponents.
They passed one of their final tests Saturday.
As Underwood put it: “It wasn’t pretty. When you’re on the road and you’re at the end of February, who gives a dang?”