LIVE: FINAL - No. 6 Illinois 83, No. 10 Duke 68; Illini Improve to 4-1

Good evening from the Illini Now Sports Illustrated home office where No. 6 Illinois (3-1) plays at No. 10 Duke (2-0) for a 8:30 p.m. CST tip at Cameroon Indoor Stadium.

I'm LOOKING LIVE...at my home office and my flat screen television as we're about an hour from the opening tip. I did not make the trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. tonight as traveling during this coronavirus pandemic has been made difficult.

NOTE: Please join us as we live-blog and discuss the Illini 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.

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Game 5: No. 6 Illinois at No. 10 Duke

Date/Time/Place: Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020: 8:30 p.m. CST, Cameron Indoor Stadium

Capacity: N/A (NO FANS!)

Records: Illinois 3-1; 21–10, 13–7 in Big Ten Conference in 2019-20 season. Duke 2-1; 25-6, 15-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2019-20 season.

Line: Duke by 3.5

Series notes: Duke leads the all-time series 5-2 but Illinois has won the only matchup in Durham, N.C. in Illinois’ biggest win in the series: a 75-65 victory on Dec. 2, 1995 in its only previous trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium, as Lou Henson’s Illini snapped the Blue Devils’ 95-game non-conference home court winning streak. It remains one of only 10 non-ACC home losses in Coach K’s 41-year career. Duke, the winningest team in ACC/Big Ten Challenge history. The Blue Devils are 19-2 in the Challenge – including a perfect 9-0 at home – and own an eight-game winning streak in the event. Illinois has dropped three straight in the Challenge, looking for its first victory since defeating N.C. State at home in 2016.

TV: ESPN; Jon Sciambi (Play-By-Play), Jay Bilas (analyst)

Radio (Illinois): Brian Barnhart (PBP), Deon Thomas (analyst).

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NOTES: Illinois preseason All-American Ayo Dosunmu is averaging 23.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game, Dosunmu is one of only two players in the nation currently averaging at least 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Illinois is 27-27 all-time in top-10 match-ups, with its last win a 60-50 home victory while ranked sixth over No. 7 Michigan State on Jan. 5, 2006. The Illini are just 2-11 in top-10 match-ups on the road, with both wins posted in the span of one week by the 1989 Flyin’ Illini:

The Illini (3-1) currently rank second in the nation in offensive rebound rate, grabbing 47.2 percent of its missed shots. Illinois is seventh nationally in defensive rebounding, meanwhile, allowing opponents to claim just 15.3 percent of its misses. Illinois ranks third in the NCAA in rebound margin at +26.5 per game.
Duke sophomore forward Matthew Hurt’s 19.0 points per game leads the Blue Devils. The watch list candidate for the Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy has posted consecutive 20-point games for the first time in his career. Hurt, whose .415 career three-point field goal percentage ranks fifth on Duke’s all-time list, was 6-of-8 from three-point range against Bellarmine. He had 21 points and 13 rebounds in the loss to Michigan State last week.
Dosunmu and Hurt teamed up for a gold medal at the 2018 FIBA U-18 Americas.
Since the start of last season, Duke has held 15 opponents to 25 percent or less from behind the three-point line, which is second most nationally. In that time, the Blue Devils are 13-2 when doing so.
Duke freshman DJ Steward came off the bench against Coppin State, to pour in a game-high 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting (4-of-9 from three-point range) with nine rebounds in 33 minutes.

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UNIFORM UPDATE: Illinois will be in the all-orange uniforms tonight and Duke will be in all white.

Illinois is 1-0 this season and 13-9 all-time under Brad Underwood in the all orange uniforms.

🔶🔶🔶 pic.twitter.com/iZc1MYmlkn
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) December 9, 2020

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UPDATE: The Illinois starting lineup doesn't change from the first four games this season (Trent Frazier, Ayo Dosunmu, Adam Miller, Da'Monte Williams and Kofi Cockburn).

Game 5️⃣, Same 5️⃣

📺 ESPN
🎧 https://t.co/vhZbBY3UIf
📈 https://t.co/Ez0xcG4TlV pic.twitter.com/mbY3od596Y
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) December 9, 2020

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MEDIA TIMEOUT - 15:27 left in 1st: No. 6 Illinois 12, No. 10 Duke 2 - Hard to imagine a better start for the Illini as Duke is really struggling to get back on defense after missed shots. Illinois is 5 of 7 from the field and has seven points off Duke turnovers.

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MEDIA TIMEOUT - 10:38 left in 1st: No. 6 Illinois 24, No. 10 Duke 10 - Duke continues to take questionable perimeter shots and those long rebounds are allowing Illini to get in transition. Illinois has six assists on nine made field goals. Oh...and Adam Miller is 3 of 3 from three-point range.

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MEDIA TIMEOUT - 7:51 left in 1st: No. 6 Illinois 24, No. 10 Duke 16 - Duke on a quick 6-0 run after they've attacked Kofi Cockburn off the dribble. Matthew Hurt has half of Duke's points and is 4 of 4 on two-point shots. Illinois hasn't scored in three minutes and the up-and-down game is heading toward Duke.

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MEDIA TIMEOUT - 3:52 left in 1st: No. 6 Illinois 28, No. 10 Duke 19 - Illini offense has stalled and Dosunmu is struggling again to find open looks (0-for-2). Duke's Matthew Hurt picked up his third foul with about seven minutes in this half.

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DUKE TIMEOUT - 3:03 left in 1st: No. 6 Illinois 33, No. 10 Duke 20 - Dosunmu leads a 5-0 run (assist on a Frazier 3) and K with a "what did we just talk about?" timeout.

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HALFTIME: No. 6 Illinois 43, No. 10 Duke 29 - Remember when I said Dosunmu was struggling? Forget that. The preseason All-American ends this half with 8 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Illinois' balanced scoring has six players between 5 and 9 points. Duke is 0 of 7 from three-point range.

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ANALYSIS: It really seems like Underwood's scout on Duke is they (besides maybe a couple of players) can't consistently make outside shots and those long rebounds have been key to Illinois' transition offense.

Illini fans should be happy with the defensive end of the floor from the Peoria duo of Da'Monte Williams and Adam Miller.

If Duke tries to guard Kofi Cockburn with Matthew Hurt (3 fouls) early in this second half, expect them to feed the post.

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MEDIA TIMEOUT - 15:58 left: No. 6 Illinois 48, No. 10 Duke 36 - Duke has slowly got back in this game with a 7-0 run as Illinois has 10 turnovers already and Duke is finding cuts toward the rim for easy points. Jeremy Roach leads all scorers with 11 points.

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MEDIA TIMEOUT - 11:40 left: No. 6 Illinois 56, No. 10 Duke 43 - Underwood has countered Duke's 2-2-1 press by putting Curbelo with Frazier on the floor so Illinois always has 2 or 3 ball-handlers. Dosunmu with a double-double (11 pts., 10 rebounds, 4 assists).

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DUKE TIMEOUT - 8:41 left: No. 6 Illinois 62, No. 10 Duke 49 - Illinois has done a lot of Giorgi-Kofi tonight and Bezhanishvili has 11 points tonight. Cockburn is a point and a rebound away from a double-double.

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MEDIA TIMEOUT - 7:27 left: No. 6 Illinois 65, No. 10 Duke 53 - Duke is trying to trap Illinois but they have three ball-handlers on the floor right now. Result? A Kofi dunk. Dosunmu with 12 pts, 11 rebs, 5 assists.

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MEDIA TIMEOUT - 3:58 left: No. 6 Illinois 69, No. 10 Duke 59 - Curbelo breaks the pressure and then commits his fifth turnover and Underwood yells "What are you doing? Slow it down." Hurt has 16 points for Duke but Illinois has seven players between 8 and 12 points.