CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Every Illinois fan in the State Farm Center knew he was going to take the shot.
The Illinois players knew it too. They’ve expected the ball in his hands at this point now.
“We know who to go to,” guard Trent Frazier said.
With roughly 20 seconds left against Northwestern on Saturday and the game on the line, Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu was the one to take the shot. He’s raised his play, and his team’s, by doing so.
He ended the road-losing streak at Wisconsin. He secured Illinois’ ranking in the AP Top 25 against Rutgers, and he’s now defended the ranking with his 17-foot dagger against Northwestern.
The ice-cold shot came with the No. 24 Illini leading the Wildcats, 71-68, with 44 seconds left, and the Wildcats just making it a three-point game after nailing a shot from deep the previous possession.
Out of the timeout, forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili told Dosunmu he was going to do exactly what he did when he hit the left wing jumper. The shot, and free throws from him a few possessions later gave the Illini the, 75-71, win and their fourth straight conference win.
“Ayo does what Ayo does and that’s ice the game,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said.
Dosunmu finished with 15 points and six assists, but it was one good performance amongst many for Illinois as it had five total players reach double-figures scoring. The most important of whom was guard Trent Frazier and his team-high 16 points (4-of-7 from 3-point line).
Eleven of the points secured his spot in Illinois basketball history. Midway through the first half against the Wildcats, Frazier became the 50th player in the program’s history to score 1000 points in his career. The feat didn’t mean nearly as much as the win did for him, though.
“It means a lot. I’ve worked hard for this,” Frazier said. “It’s just another milestone but I just have to continue to get better and finish out the season. A 1000 points is nothing too big to me anymore, but I thought we did good tonight and I’m glad we won.”
A milestone, in fact, Frazier’s teammates seem to be more impressed by is how it’s now gone six-straight games where Frazier has registered a zero in the turnover column. Bezhanishvili was in disbelief almost talking about the feat.
“That’s unbelievable,” Bezhanishvili said. “For me, a guy that has a lot of turnovers, to look at the guy right next to me who hadn’t had a turnover in six games just shows the maturity of the player.”
The game wasn’t pretty by any means. The Illini offense flourished, however, by shooting 50 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from the 3-point line, which is nearly 15 percent better than their conference average from deep. The defensive end is where all the problems rested.
For nearly every Illinois basket, Northwestern responded with ease. The Wildcats got penetration into the paint whenever they wanted it seemed, and more times than not, it resulted in wide-open three-pointers.
Northwestern shot 45 percent from the field and 42 percent from the 3-point line. Robbie Beran led all scorers with 17 points and shot 3-of-6 from deep.
But when crunch time came and the ensuing plays determined the game’s outcome, the Illini walked away victors.
Illinois withstood a challenge the team couldn’t do last year but has this season. It’s a testament to the maturity of the team, and program, throughout a rebuild that’s finally starting to show returns.
