POST-GAME VIDEO: No. 6 Illinois 77, Nebraska 72 (OT)

Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu spoke to national, local and statewide media via Zoom video following the 77-72 overtime win at Nebraska on Feb. 12.

The preseason All-America candidate continued his ongoing case for National Player of the Year by dropping 31 points, six assists and four steals in a 42-minute effort to be the reason Illinois was able to seal what he and his teammates call a “road kill” Friday night in Lincoln’s Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Once Dosunmu hit a jump shot to bring the Illini (14-5, 10-3 in Big Ten Conference) within three with three minutes and 21 seconds left in regulation, the junior guard had a stretch of 17 points. During that 8-minute period, Dosunmu outscored Nebraska on his own by six points and sent the Cornhuskers (4-12, 0-9) home with its 26th straight loss in Big Ten Conference play.

“We were down two and I missed the front end of a one-and-one and then they came down and hit a three. Now we’re down five with three minutes to go, (Underwood) called a timeout and I thought to myself all right, it’s time to lock in and we’ll be good because trust myself and try to will my team to a victory,” Dosunmu said. “My teammates believe in me to make the right plays. I just go out there and trust in my instincts. It’s easy when your teammates allow you to do what you do best.”

Dosunmu’s late-game heroics matched what he accomplished last year at Wisconsin, at Michigan, at Penn State and came just six days after accomplishing the program’s third ever triple-double effort. Since 1971, when the program began statistically tracking such accomplishments, Illinois has had five players record more than 30 points in a game at least four times in a season and Dosunmu is now part of an elite group of scorers that includes Nick Witherspoon (1973), Andy Kaufmann (1991), Malcolm Hill (2016) and Rick Schmidt (1975).

Illinois’ 10-3 Big Ten record is its best through 13 games since the 2005 Big Ten regular season championship team started 13-0 en route to a 15-1 league record. The Illini have won four straight Big Ten road games, its longest streak since setting a school record with 13 straight Big Ten road wins from Feb. 3, 2004 through Feb. 19, 2005.