Indiana Struggles to Finish Again in 69-60 Loss at Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — For the past couple of years, Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu has become one of the best closers in the game. He proved that once again on Saturday when he torched Indiana for 17 points in the final nine-plus minutes to lead the Fighting Illini to a come-from-behind 69-60 win.
The game was eerily similar to Wednesday night's loss for Indiana, when it gave away a small lead – four points in both circumstances – by not being able to get a stop late and by struggled to get points themselves.
Dosunmu, who finished with 30 points, did plenty of damage, but the bigger problem was that Indiana had no answer itself. Trailing 60-57 at the last media timeout, Indiana made only one shot in the final four minutes, a three-pointer by Armaan Franklin, who had a career-high 23 points. Indiana went scoreless in their other six possessions.
"I thought we had some good looks there, but we have to be better in the last three minutes of games,'' a frustrated Archie Miller said after the loss. "Race (Thompson) had a good look inside that didn't go and Trey (Galloway) had a three-pointer right in front of our bench that went in an out. Those were good looks, they just didn't go in.''
It was a frustrating finish for Indiana (5-4, 0-2 in the Big Ten) because it played well enough to win. For the second straight game, a nice run early in the second half got them a lead, and it came from two unlikely sources, guards Al Durham and Rob Phinisee. Both had struggled in the Northwestern loss and were held scoreless in the first half Saturday, but Durham came out of the break scoring five quick points and Phinisee added four more a few minutes later to put Indiana ahead 40-37.
Franklin added a free throw, and Indiana led 43-39, its largest lead of the game, with 8:59 to go.
And then Dosunmu went wild. In the final nine minutes making 6-of-8 shots, including four three-pointers. Indiana had no answer for him down the stretch.
"I felt like I was on him late like I was early, but he's every bit of 6-5 and he can get a shot off quick,'' Franklin said. "He's a very good player.''
The loss spoiled a career day by Indiana sophomore guard Armaan Franklin, who finished with a career-high 23 points. He made 8-of-12 shots and was 5-for-6 from three-point, the third game this season where he's made at least five three-pointers. The rest of the team was just 2-for-12 from deep.
Jackson-Davis missed his first six shots from the field, most of them contested by Cockburn at the rim. He was just 3-for-13 from the field on the day, though many of the shots were good looks that just didn't go down. His 11 points were a season low.
"Kofi is a big inside presence and he alters a lot of shots,'' Franklin said of Jackson-Davis' struggles to score. "They challenged a lot of shots, but we got great looks and they just didn't go down.''
Miller said Jackson-Davis battled for space, but just couldn't get a lot of open looks to fall.
"Trayce isn't going to go 3-for-13 every game," Miller said. "We only had eight turnovers and we did get good looks. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we played hard and we had our plays."
Indiana led for most of the first half, building a six-point lead on three different occasions, but Illinois went on an 11-4 run to end the half at take a 29-27 lead into the locker room. Trey Galloway got his second start of the season, replacing Rob Phinisee in the starting lineup. In the first half, Phinisee and senior guard Al Durham both failed to score in a combined 20 minutes.
But both played key roles early in the second half, when Indiana pulled out ahead again. Durham had five quick points early and then Phinisee hit back-to-back tough shots in the lane to give Indiana a three-point lead. A Franklin free throw gave Indiana a 43-39 lead, but then Dosunmu took over.
"Ayo made every big shot those last 10-12 minutes,'' Miller said. "He was the difference, no doubt about it.''
Dosunmu and Cockburn made 17 of Illinois' 24 field goals.
"You have two guys get 17 field goals out of their 24,'' Miller said. "Their two studs really produced tonight."
Dosunmu is an All-American candidate for a reason for Illinois, who's 7-3 now and 3-1 in the Big Ten.
"I'm glad we had the best player on the court in Ayo Dosunmu at the end of the game,'' Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "He was phenomenal."
That's just the way Dosunmu likes it. It was green light time.
"He was just saying, 'it's eight minutes left in the game, come out here and give it your all, play as hard as you can,' " Dosunmu said of Underwood's plea during a timeout.
