Illini’s Friday Knight Lights: No. 3 Illinois Rout Rutgers on way to Big Ten Tournament Semis
So much for the idea that Illinois would have rust after not playing in six days or nerves about playing in front of live fans for the first time this season.
In its first action of the 2021 Big Ten Conference tournament, Illinois looked every bit like a top seed in next week’s NCAA tournament should look by easily dispatching Rutgers 90-68 in Friday’s quarterfinal action.
In front of a very partisan and delighted crowd of a few thousand people at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Illinois started the game on a 9-0 run and built a 19-point halftime lead.
“It was great to finally see fans support us and watch us play,” Dosunmu said. “It always gives you extra juice and adrenaline and pushes you to play harder. It felt good. It felt like a playoff game, really.”
The win for the Illini will mark the first time in 11 years that the program will play on the weekend of the conference tournament. Illinois, the No. 2 seed in the event, will match up against third-seeded Iowa in the second semifinal game on CBS scheduled to start at approximately 2:30 p.m. CST. Iowa outscored Wisconsin by 11 in the second half of its quarterfinal matchup against the Badgers on the path of a 62-57 victory led by 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists from two-time league player of the year Luka Garza.
Ayo Dosunmu, still wearing his black mask to protect his broken nose suffered in a loss on Feb. 23, reveled in being able to perform in front of a small group of fans and led the Illini with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting with six assists and three steals.
“Every game I come out looking to score, but maybe it’s not my time to score and I look for my teammates,” Dosunmu said. “I definitely did feel a little bit of a sense of urgency because I knew that this being the first game and also a win-and-go-home game, it’s always a different atmosphere mentally. I just wanted to come out and give it all I had. You never know. Tomorrow isn’t promised. I just wanted to come out, play as hard as I can.”
Members of the Illinois Fighting Illini celebrate defeating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports
Illinois (21-6) has now won 12 of its last 13 games and are in a position to potentially knock off hated rivals in its next games (Iowa and Michigan) on the way to what would be the program’s first conference tournament championship since 2005.
“The sixth deck I couldn’t hardly see — at my age I’m losing my vision — but there’s people up there,” Underwood said. “That’s so cool to see. It was nice to be able to go play in front of them. It’s been a special year in terms of this group of guys and the character of these guys and how fun they are, and it was nice to be able to go play in front of them.”
Kofi Cockburn muscled his way to 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, recording his 16th double-double. The double-double total from the 7-footer from Jamaica ranks second in the NCAA this season and is tied for the fifth-most in the single-season history of Illinois basketball.
Illinois finished the game shooting 52.5 percent from the field and their shots didn’t find the bottom of the net, they dominated Rutgers (15-11) on the glass with 17 offensive rebounds leading to 14 second-chance points.
Rutgers came into Friday night’s contest 12th in the league in rebounding but yet out-rebounded the Illini in their 91-88 win over Illinois in the only regular season matchup between the two teams on Dec. 20 in New Jersey.
In the two previous days prior to the team leaving for Indianapolis, Underwood stressed the importance of rebounding and how much of an advantage the Illini, a team which sends four players consistently to the offensive glass, could have in that statistical category.
“It was such a focus,” Underwood said. “Myles Johnson had six offensive rebounds in the first game. (Paul) Mulcahy, I think, had five. They had 15 total offensive rebounds. Our guys were dialed in. One of the things that will go unnoticed was Adam Miller’s job on Mulcahy. In the first game, he kept seven balls alive that led to four baskets. That was a little thing Adam did (Friday) that was really important for our success.”
Rutgers was led by the 21 points by Ron Harper Jr. but the Scarlet Knights program are just days away from being selected to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991.
“You saw a No. 1 seed (Friday), so you obviously have to play really good basketball in order to beat one of those kind of teams,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. “We’ve got to play better in those kind of games. The one thing you get in this league is you get well tested.”
