During any long season, especially one that is being played out in a global pandemic and largely without fans, a team is guaranteed to suffer a disappointment. (Even Gonzaga, the best ranked, had one at Pacific last week.) The only hope is that when you arrive, you can survive. And that’s why, if for no other reason, Illinois coach Brad Underwood can feel good about what happened on Friday night inside the Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Seu Illini had a disappointment – but they survived.
“We escaped in a very ugly way,” said Underwood after Illinois’ 77-72 win in overtime in Nebraska. “No one, at the end of the year, is going to take pictures of this one. But it’s a W.”
In fact, it is. So now Illinois has 14-5 overall, 10-3 in the Big Ten. And the main reason is because Ayo Dosunmu took over in the final minutes. The 6-foot-5 point guard scored 22 of his 31 points after the break to help Illini overcome a six-point handicap, with just 2:36 left at the end of the game. He scored Illinois’s 10 final points in regulation and the first five points in overtime.
“I told myself it was time to imprison myself,” said Dosunmu. “Trust yourself. Believe your instincts. You did it. Let’s try to take my team to victory.”
This is exactly what he did. The result was Illinois, narrowly avoiding what would have been his first loss in Quadrant 3 of the season. As it stands, the Illini remain 10-5 in the first two quadrants with zero losses coming from outside the first two quadrants. The next game on the schedule is Tuesday against Northwestern.
Illinois ranks fifth in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 updated college basketball diary. The Illini are one of six teams in the Big Ten in the top 25 and 1. The others are No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Ohio State, No. 18 Wisconsin, No. 19 Iowa and No. 25 Rutgers.
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