Illini hold off plucky Badgers
Illinois earns 1st sweep of Wisconsin since ’05; No. 3 Michigan awaits
MADISON, Wis. — Illinois held on without Ayo Dosunmu.
Not even an amazing outburst from Wisconsin’s D’Mitrik Trice could stop the Illini from completing the school’s first regular-season sweep of the Badgers since 2005.
Kofi Cockburn scored 19 points as No. 5 Illinois topped No. 23 Wisconsin 74-69 on Saturday.
Dosunmu missed a second consecutive game after breaking his nose Tuesday in an 81-72 loss at Michigan State. Dosunmu recorded a triple-double Feb. 6 in a 75-60 victory over Wisconsin.
“I could not be prouder of this group of guys and their toughness and ability to step up,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “Grit was a big part of it today.”
Illinois (18-6, 14-4 Big Ten) has won its last three meetings with Wisconsin (16-9, 10-8) since a 15game losing streak in the series.
Trice and Wisconsin pushed Illinois right to the very end.
After Wisconsin trailed by 13 points with less than three minutes left, Trice nearly brought the Badgers all the way back by scoring 19 points in the final 2:12. His sixth three-pointer cut Illinois’ lead to 70-69 with 6.7 seconds left.
“I honestly don’t even know what was going through my mind,” Trice said. “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.”
Illinois’ Trent Frazier sank two free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining to make it 72-69. The Illini then fouled Trevor Anderson before the Badgers could attempt a tying three-pointer, and an exchange of words near the Wisconsin bench resulted in offsetting technical fouls.
“One of their players came into the [Wisconsin] huddle, which was not supposed to happen,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. “The officials took care of that and I thought handled it the right way.”
Anderson missed his first free throw. Wisconsin still could have attempted a desperation threepointer if he missed his second attempt and the Badgers got the offensive rebound. But the ball went to Illinois’ Jacob Grandison, who hit a pair of free throws to cap the scoring.
Trice finished with 29 points. Micah Potter had 15 points for Wisconsin. Andre Curbelo scored 17 points and Da’Monte Williams 12 for Illinois, which committed a season-high 20 turnovers.
The Illini never trailed, capitalizing on Wisconsin’s shooting woes. The Badgers shot 17-for-62 (27.4%) before making their last seven attempts of the game.
Illinois led by 14 in the second half before Trice got Wisconsin back into the game. The Illini survived by making their final five field-goal attempts and going 10for-10 from the free-throw line in the last 44 seconds.
Illinois next visits No. 3 Michigan (18-1, 13-1) on Tuesday in a battle of the top teams in the Big Ten. The game was rescheduled when the Wolverines’ program was shut down because COVID-19 issues. Michigan has won five in a row since returning.