LIVE: FINAL - Illinois 54, Rutgers 51
Welcome and a rare good morning from the State Farm Center where Illinois (11-5, 3-2 in Big Ten Conference) will face Rutgers (12-3, 3-1).
I'm LOOKING LIVE...at the State Farm Center floor in Champaign, Ill., as we're about an hour from the opening tip.
NOTE: Please join us as we live-blog and discuss the Illini exhibition game here in our weekly Illini Gameday Open Thread. Dive into the conversation — it's easy — by simply going to the top right of the redesigned site and click the follow button.
You can log in with Facebook or Google and either way, it's free. That's right...IT'S FREE. From there, sound off in the comment section and share your reactions and observations with our staff and fellow members of the Illini Maven/Sports Illustrated community as we keep you up to date of the game in real-time.
-------------
Game 16: Rutgers at Illinois
Date/Time/Place: Sunday, Jan. 11, 2020: 11 a.m. CST, State Farm Center, Champaign, Ill.
Capacity: 15,544
Records: Illinois 11-5, 3-2 in Big Ten; 12-21, 7-13 in Big Ten Conference in 2018-19. Rutgers 12-3, 3-1 in Big Ten; 14-17, 7-13 in Big Ten Conference in 2018-19.
Line: Illinois by 4
Series notes: Illinois leads 7-1 and has won the last three games in the matchup. Illinois and Rutgers own two of the four road victories thus far in Big Ten play. The Illini are coming off a win at Wisconsin on Wednesday, while Rutgers won at Nebraska on Jan. 3. The Illini outlasted Rutgers in its last meeting in an offensive shootout at State Farm Center, defeating the Scarlet Knights 99-94 in overtime in a game that featured 12 ties and 10 lead changes.
TV: FS1 - Jeff Levering (PBP), Jess Settles (analyst)
Radio (Illinois): Brian Barnhart (PBP), Deon Thomas (analyst) - The broadcast can be heard live on TuneIn online radio, Sirius/XM 384 and at FightingIllini.com.
----------------
Matt Stevens' Prediction: Illinois 73, Rutgers 63
-------------
NOTE: Tonight's game officials are Terry Oglesby, Terry Wymer and Chris Beaver.
--------------
Uniform Update: Illinois appears to be going with the white uniforms. Rutgers appears to be going with the all red.
---------------
Today's starters:
----------------
MEDIA TIMEOUT - 16:00 left in 1st: Rutgers 7, Illinois 4 - Ball is sticking for Illinois and leading to a 2 of 7 start from the field. Kipper Nichols and Alan Griffin set to check in. Rutgers has three baskets from three different players.
---------------
HALFTIME: Rutgers 21, Illinois 18 - Sorry about that folks...we had some unexpected Illini/NFL Draft breaking news to handle.
Illinois went 1 for its final 11 field goals to end this first half and are currently in a 2:14 scoring drought. Giorgi is 2 of 10, yikes! Ayo Dosunmu has only two points. Good news for Illinois is Rutgers is only 2 of 12 from 3-point range. Overall, it seems like I missed some ugly basketball while I was writing a Betiku quick story.
--------------
RUTGERS TIMEOUT: 17:22 left - Illinois 22, Rutgers 21 - Illinois on a 4-0 run to start this half (and yes, in this game 4-0 is a major scoring run). Illini getting some great looks offensively but nothing is falling for Trent Frazier or Giorgi Bezhanishvili today.
--------------
MEDIA TIMEOUT: 15:27 left - Rutgers 26, Illinois 22 - Rutgers on a 5-0 run and Harper Jr. will be going to the line. Illinois center Kofi Cockburn with five points and 13 rebounds in just 18 minutes so far today.
------------
RUTGERS TIMEOUT: 12:19 left - Illinois 28, Rutgers 28 - Illinois finally stopped hitting the snooze button as Feliz goes coast-to-coast for a lay-up. Just the Illini's second fast-break bucket. Illinois on a 6-0 run over last 1:29.
-------------
MEDIA TIMEOUT: 7:18 left - Illinois 36, Rutgers 34 - Illinois has made 5 of its last 7 (mostly layups) and only thing keeping Rutgers close is they are 3 of 6 from 3-point range.
-------------
ILLINI TIMEOUT: 6:31 left - Rutgers 38, Illinois 37 - Rutgers get a quick four points and Underwood wants to draw something up in this set. Cockburn with nine points and 16 rebounds.
---------
ILLINI TIMEOUT: 2:09 left - Illinois 46, Rutgers 46 - Feliz (8 points) hits another coast-to-coast layup to tie this game. Kofi Cockburn now has the freshman double-double record (originally held by Efrem Winters) as he had 11 points and a season-high 17 rebounds.