INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in 13 years, Illinois will play for a post-season title. The third-placed Illini certainly looked like a champion team during their first two games in the Big Ten Tournament, including an impressive 82-71 victory over No. 5 Iowa during Saturday’s semifinal.
In a battle of Big Ten heavyweights, Kofi Cockburn won his third win face to face over the Big Ten Player of the Year Luka Garza in charge to bring Illinois its first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament title game since 2008. Illinois will play in 5th place at Ohio State, ranked 9th in this week’s AP Top 25, at 2:30 pm CT Sunday (CBS)
Cockburn dominated the interior with 26 points (11 to 17 FG) and eight rebounds. Meanwhile, Iowa star Luka Garza finished with 21 points (and 12 rebounds), but hit 8 out of 21 relatively inefficient points. Illinois (22-6) has won 13 of their last 14 games.
Ayo Dosunmu flirted with his third triple-double of the season, finishing with 18 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Off the bench, freshman guard Andre Curbelo had 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Jordan Bohannon had 20 points (5 to 13 out of three) for Iowa (21-8), while Joe Wieskamp added 12 points and seven rebounds.
The two teams exchanged blows before Illini left in a 9-0 run to take the lead from 22-14, with Curbelo and Cockburn’s consecutive dumps standing out. Iowa reduced Illini’s lead to five before a Jacob Grandison stealing led to two Adam Miller free throws to give Illinois a 45-37 lead at halftime. Illini built a 14-point lead early in the second half and held on to several Iowa races when Cockburn sat on the bench with some late foul problems, including a huge three per Adam Miller halfway through.
Iowa then had an 8-0 run in 81 seconds with Cockburn on the bench with four fouls to narrow the gap to 74-69 with 3:42 left. But Curbelo undressed Bohannon for a robbery that led to a dunk in Dosunmu to give Illinois a pillow. Cockburn then scored in consecutive possession to close the Hawkeyes.
Illinois led to the final 34: 3 of the game.
Match statistics: Illinois dominated Iowa in the job, beating Iowa 52-24 in painting. Illinois also topped Iowa 42-35. The Hawkeyes had a big advantage of three, making 8 out of 24 triplets, while Illinois only made 3 out of 15 beyond the arc.
Illinois overcame Iowa 19 to 9 in the fastbreak, scoring 19 points in 12 Iowa turns.
Illinois had 10 dunks. There have been seasons (perhaps parts of several seasons) during the last decade that Illinois may not have 10 buried.
Game star: Kofi Cockburn he overcame and shook the likely National Player of the Year. While Garza took his, Cockburn did not give him anything easy in painting and forced him into a shooting range. Meanwhile, Garza had no answer for Cockburn’s brute force at the edge of the attack. If Cockburn can win a showdown against NPOY, then Illinois can have a showdown advantage in painting against any team in the country.
Do not neglect: Illini’s freshmen, Andre Curbelo and Adam Miller, made great plays during the game and certainly don’t seem to fear the moment in front of the crowd for the first time in their university careers. Curbelo was an offensive dynamo, but he also had three steals that changed momentum, and Miller interrupted a race in Iowa with a three-point monster in the middle of the second half.
What it means: Illinois did not receive a Big Ten title from the regular Big Ten season, despite his objections after playing three more games and winning two more wins than champion Michigan – who won by winning percentage, as agreed by the athletic directors of the Big Ten – but Illini will have a chance to win a Big Ten flag for the first time in 16 years. This will be part of an Extra-Special Sunday Selection for a program that has been irrelevant on college basketball’s biggest day for most of the past decade.
What is the next: Illinois will play 5th in Ohio State, 9th in this week’s AP Top 25, for the Big Ten Tournament Championship at 14:30 CT Sunday (CBS) and will try to claim its first conference tournament title since 2005 The Illini win by 2 -4 in Big Ten Tournament games, losing their last appearance 61-58 to Wisconsin in 2008. Illinois is 1-1 against Ohio State this season, with each team winning on the road. The Illini defeated the Buckeyes a week ago 73-68, ending the game in a 9-0 run.
