MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Ayo Dosunmu He shrugged and tilted his head to smile. Listen, he is not a medium. He cannot predict a triple-double and make it a reality, although he took that trick out of his purse exactly two weeks ago at the State Farm Center when registering his first triple-double career against Wisconsin.
Fourteen days later, Dosunmu did nothing of the kind in terms of prediction, but he still ended up with the same result. For the second time in two weeks, Dosunmu, a junior guard from Illinois, registered a triple-double.
He had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the 94-63 victory of No. 5 Illinois in Minnesota on Saturday. It is the triple-double room in the program’s history, and Dosunmu has had two of them in the past two weeks. He already had 21 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists on February 6 against Wisconsin at the State Farm Center.
“I don’t call this one. I just go there and have fun. I was just at a pace, doing whatever it took, “Dosunmu said with a smile. “My coaches catch me a lot. You would be surprised. I wish there was a microphone and you could really see how my coaches catch me so much in practice on rebounds or just doing the right reading. I just try to get out here and accept the challenge. They challenge me with every game and I just try to come here and accept the challenge. “
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Dosunmu, who is currently playing for both the National Player of the Year and the Player of the Year, stood on the floor to get the rebound he needed at the end of an explosive game.
“One thing about Coach Underwood, he always trains until the end,” said Dosunmu. “This is something I could say about him, whether in practice, there are games where at the end of the game if someone misses, he screams the same manner.
“He told me when I was leaving early, 10 minutes to go, he told me when my night was going to end, around 3 minutes and 30 (seconds). I just try to go out there and just play and have fun. “
Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood he said he would let Dosunmu stay for a rebound, but he would not leave him for the rest of the game. Dosunmu got his 10th rebound with 2:08 to go and Underwood asked for a 30 second timeout to get his star out of the game.
Nine of Dosunmu’s rebounds, including the last one, were on the defensive end, which both Dosunmu and Underwood said were highlights in practice.
“I’m usually very sensitive to exclusives like this, but (Minnesota coach) Richard (Pitino) is also a good friend and I didn’t want him to think we were trying to keep this up,” said Underwood. “(Dosunmu) had about a minute in sub-four to try to get it and if he didn’t, he was leaving. “
Dosunmu has an average of 21.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. He is the only NCAA player in the past 11 seasons to have averaged at least 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. he is one of the top five conference players with triple-doubles in a season since 2010, joining Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ, State of North Carolina Dennis Smith, Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine and the state of Michigan Draymond Green.
Three Dosunmu assists went to Kofi Cockburn in the basket, two went to Giorgi Bezhanishvili on the edge, one went to Coleman Hawkins for a dunk, two led to 3 points per Trent Frazier and two went to Jacob Grandison, one for a triple and one for easy lay-up.
After the Illinois program spent 20 years in the triple-double, Dosunmu needed only 14 days between his.
“I think that happens when good players play on good teams,” said Underwood. “You can’t get a triple-double if you don’t have guys doing pitches and you don’t have other guys running and you don’t have altruism. It is easy to go out and score many points. You usually look and see those guys and they have no assists. This is not the case. As I said when describing Ayo, he is the winner and is capitalized, all letters. He will do whatever it takes to win and it is something unique. I think he goes hand in hand with a very good player playing on a good team with a lot of great teammates. “
Dosunmu’s big game helped Illinois win an impressive victory in Minnesota, where the Gophers have a 13-2 record. Illinois has won seven consecutive games and is currently in the Big Ten championship.
“We know the sense of urgency with which we must play,” said Dosunmu. “The regular season is coming to an end and to get what we want there is no room for error. We are having fun here.”
The only other male basketball players from Illini who registered a triple-double are Mark Smith and Sergio McClain. Smith had 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists on February 1, 1979 against Minnesota. McClain recorded 10 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists against Michigan on January 13, 2002.
There were 14 triple doubles in Division I men’s college basketball this season and Dosunmu recorded two of them. He is quickly approaching the top of the list of National Player of the Year and Ten Best Players of the Year. He is effectively becoming two people with the Iowa star Luka Garza race as the regular season approaches the final stretch.
Although Underwood had a very strong defense for Dosunmu.
“Damn, I don’t know who’s better,” said Underwood. “I mean, literally, I know that guys have more advertising and more marketing and more this and that, but the numbers don’t lie and productivity doesn’t lie and victory doesn’t lie. I don’t know who the hell someone thinks is better than him right now. “