Illini harvest 11-point win over Corn Huskers at home Monday night
Senior guard Andrés Feliz celebrates with junior guard Trent Frazier after Frazier hurled and sunk a shot from over the half court line heading into halftime during Illinois’ game against Nebraska at State Farm Center Monday night. Illinois stomped Nebraska 71-59 and improves to 18-9 and 10-6 on the season.
February 24, 2020
Illinois basketball is back on a winning streak after beating Nebraska (7-20, 2-14) at State Farm Center on Monday night. The Illini, now 10-6 in the Big Ten, handled a Huskers team that hasn’t won a game since Jan. 7.
With the victory, the Illini make their way into a five-way tie for second place in the Big Ten.
A balanced offense helped the Illini cruise to victory as five players scored in double figures. Sophomore Ayo Dosunmu headed the attack for the second game in a row, scoring 18 points. Dosunmu was named the Big Ten Player of the Week Monday morning after a 24-point performance last Tuesday at Penn State.
Four more Illini scored in double figures including freshman Kofi Cockburn (15 points), sophomore Alan Griffin (13 points), junior Trent Frazier (11 points) and senior Andrès Feliz (11 points). Cockburn notched his 11th career double-double as he came down with 10 rebounds.
Illinois controlled the paint as 42 of its points came from inside. The Illini won the rebounding battle 48-35 as 19 of those came on the offensive end.
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Nebraska kept the game close in the first half as they tied it up with 1:47 to play in the first half.
Frazier put the Illini back up right before the half scoring six-consecutive points with 20 seconds left. As the first-half clock ran out, Frazier nailed a shot from around 70-feet, according to Illinois basketball’s Twitter, to bring life back into State Farm Center.
The Huskers shot 41.9% from the field in the first 20 minutes and held the Illini to 39.5% shooting.
Nebraska continued to challenge Illinois out of halftime as they tied the game back up at 46-46 with 15:12 left to play. The Illini quickly broke out of the tie and used a 7-0 run to jump out to a 10-point lead near the halfway point of the second period.
Cockburn maintained the lead for the Illini by scoring six points in the final eight minutes.
The Huskers played without one of their leading scorers, sophomore guard Cam Mack, who averages 12.0 points per game; however, four Huskers scored in double figures. Senior guard Haanif Cheatham paced Nebraska with 14 points.
Illinois has a quick turnaround as they travel to Northwestern Thursday night. The Wildcats have just one Big Ten victory this season and haven’t won a game since Jan. 11 when they beat the Huskers.
@gabby_h11
