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The Illini (21-10, 13-7) earned the No. 4 seed
in the conference tournament, while the Hawkeyes (20-11, 11-9)
are the No. 5 seed. The tournament begins Wednesday in
Indianapolis.
Andres Feliz scored 14 points, Kofi Cockburn added 12 points and
eight boards, and Kipper Nichols had 10 points to lead the
Illini.
"Coming off a loss, I hope this gives us back some confidence,"
Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "I thought we made some
plays and Kofi helped us in the first half."
Iowa junior center Luka Garza scored a game-high 28 points and
pulled down eight rebounds, Joe Toussaint had 14 points, and
Connor McCaffery finished with 10 points, eight assists and five
boards.
The Illini seized the momentum early in the second half, when
Feliz hit a 3-pointer to ignite an 8-0 run that ended with Trent
Frazier hitting a 3-pointer for a 49-44 lead with 17:29 left.
Sixty-two seconds later, Feliz splashed in another 3-pointer to
put the Illini ahead 52-46.
Feliz hit a runner off the glass and Dosunmu scored on a
fast-break Euro-step layup to increase the lead to 60-48 at the
13:10 mark. Cockburn scored off a pass from Dosunmu to cap an
11-0 run that ended with the Illini up 64-48.
McCaffery made a long 3-pointer to cut Iowa's deficit -- as
large as 16 in the half -- to 72-65 with 4:10 remaining. Bakari
Evelyn nailed a corner 3-pointer to lower the margin to 74-70
with 2:21 left.
When Garza scored on a layup to bring the Hawkeyes to within two
points at 76-74, Dosunmu added to his Illinois legacy with a
clutch short jumper with 31 seconds left. Garza came right back
with a two-handed dunk to cut the deficit to 78-76 with 18
seconds left. With 1.6 seconds left, the Hawkeyes had a chance
to tie or win the game, but Cockburn blocked Garza's 13-footer
at the buzzer.
--Field Level Media
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