Hawkeyes Fall Short In Feisty Game With Illini

Iowa-Illinois II had even more spice, and a third matchup is looming.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Iowa’s CJ Fredrick and Illinois’ Trent Frazier were squabbling near the Iowa basket.

Connor McCaffery and Da’Monte Williams were nose-to-nose by the free-throw line.

You think Iowa-Illinois I had its post-game spice?

Iowa-Illinois II just ramped it up.

And oh, by the way, Iowa-Illinois III seems to be looming in less than a week a few miles down the road.

When Luka Garza had his final-second shot blocked by Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn, the Illini escaped with a 78-76 win on Sunday night at the State Farm Center.

While the Hawkeyes lamented letting a suddenly-tense-again rivalry game get away, the Illini celebrated with a victory run of high-fives through the student section — coach Brad Underwood autographed a student’s sign that mocked Iowa coach Fran McCaffery.

If the Hawkeyes were seething after, though, they kept their emotions contained.

“I have no bad blood for them,” Garza said. “I have nothing but respect for them.

“There’s no bad blood,” freshman guard Joe Toussaint said. “We don’t hate each other.”

Toussaint changed his train of thought.

“Well, we don’t hate them,” he said.

“Pretty intense game,” said Connor McCaffery, whose layup in the final seconds rolled off the rim.

“Basically, they want to kill us, and we want to kill them,” Illinois' Ayo Dosunmu said.

“I mean, there’s a respect factor, but on the court it’s pure hate. We just don’t like each other.”

So there’s that.

Fran McCaffery wasn’t biting in the post-game press conference when someone asked him about the intensity of the rivalry.

“I think it’s that way in every game in this league,” he said. “I really do.”

Well, there are intense conference games, and then there was this one.

Iowa (20-11 overall, 11-9 Big Ten) had a 10-point first-half lead, then Illinois rallied.

The Illini (21-10, 13-7) had a 23-4 second-half run and led by as much as 16 points before the Hawkeyes put together a comeback that just fell short.

These two teams sniped at each other in the handshake line after Iowa’s 72-65 win on Feb. 2 in Iowa City.

That feistiness was still boiling in the first half of this game, and it started with Frazier-Fredrick and Williams-McCaffery with a minute to go before halftime.

“He got into my space, and said some words,” Fredrick said. “I’m going to protect myself. I’m not going to let someone get to me.”

As that was going on with play stopped, Williams tried to swat the ball away from Connor McCaffery. He then pretended like he was going to throw an elbow at McCaffery, and soon the two were nose-to-nose.

“I’m not going to back down. I know CJ’s not going to,” McCaffery said. “I’m not going back up and go, ‘Whoa, whoa.’”

It ended up with double-technicals called for both tiffs.

“I think that’s more the players, probably,” Underwood said. “It got a little chippy. We don’t condone that.

“I think rivalries, if you want to call them that, are awesome. They’re great for sport. Every time we play, we’re going to compete.”

The second half, though, was all about the game.

Iowa led 44-41 before Illinois went on its run.

Then the Hawkeyes had their response. Garza, who had 28 points, started the Iowa run with nine consecutive points, and the Hawkeyes began trimming the lead.

Iowa had its final chance when Dosunmu missed the front end of a one-and-bonus.

McCaffery had the first opportunity to tie the game, but his layup rolled off and his putback attempt also missed before the ball was knocked out of bounds.

After a series of timeouts, the ball got to Garza, but Cockburn got a piece of the shot. Garza tried to get up one more shot, but the buzzer sounded.

Garza had his 16th consecutive game of 20 points or more in Big Ten play.

“We withstood Garza,” Underwood sighed.

Toussaint had 14 points and Connor McCaffery added 10.

Dosunmu led Illinois with 17 points.

The Hawkeyes will be the 5 seed in this week’s Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis, playing the winner of Wednesday’s game between Northwestern and Minnesota at 1:30 p.m. (CDT) Thursday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The winner of that game will face the fourth-seeded Illini at the same time on Friday.

The Hawkeyes don’t have that date circled yet.

But they at least have it in mind.

“I think it’ll be fun,” Connor McCaffery said. “We’ve had intense, competitive games with them. These are the type of games you sign up for.”

“We’re two physical teams,” Garza said. “Emotional players on both ends.”

Iowa-Illinois III? Why not?

“See you in Indianapolis,” Underwood said as he finished his post-game press conference.