It wasn’t the prettiest game for Illinois or Rutgers. It was a battle from the start, however, with the Illini pulling out a 99-94 overtime win and freshman Giorgi Bezhanishvili dominating the action with a freshman record 35 points.

The Illini got 17 points from an energized Trent Frazier, 12 from Ayo Dosunmu and 10 from Aaron Jordan to offset a career high 25 from Rutgers freshman Caleb McConnell, who’s previous career high was 14 points. Illinois won its third consecutive game.

In the end, it’s a win in what looked like a trap game after the big win over Michigan State on Tuesday. This is a game Illinois would not have won earlier in the season, and although beating Rutgers doesn’t seem like a big win, they are a lot like Illinois in the sense they are a much better team of late and have a lot of young players growing into their roles.