Illini Downs Nebraska, SIUE Falls To Jacksonville State

LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 6 Fighting Illini defeated Nebraska 77-72 in overtime on Friday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The victory extends the Illini's winning streak to five games. Illinois has won their last five overtime games since Feb. 19, 2019 vs. Rutgers (99-94).

Junior Ayo Dosunmu led the scoring effort for the Illini with a game-high 31 points on 12-for-23 shooting. The 31 points for Dosunmu were a career high in league play. Dosunmu had 15 consecutive points for Illinois over a 4:21 stretch at the end of the second half and beginning of overtime.

Sophomore Kofi Cockburn recorded his 14th double-double of the season with 21 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while freshman Adam Miller chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.

Illinois trailed 64-58 with 2:55 remaining in the second half. The Illini finished the half on an 8-2 run, including a layup by Dosunmu with 0:20 seconds left. The Illinois defense did not allow Nebraska to get a final shot off in regulation. 

Nebraska jumped out to a 9-0 start at the beginning of the contest. Illinois stormed back with an 11-2 run of their own, tying the game at 11-11 with 12:06 remaining in the first half. Nebraska regained the lead after that for much of the first half before Illinois battled back again to trim the deficit to 34-33 Nebraska entering halftime.

UP NEXT

Illinois returns to State Farm Center on Tuesday, Feb. 16 to take on Northwestern. Tip-off is set for 8:00 pm CT on BTN.

NOTES

• Illinois won its fifth-straight game to move to 14-5 overall and 10-3 in the Big Ten.

• Illinois' 10-3 Big Ten record is its best through 13 games since the 2005 Big Ten championship team went 15-1.

• Illinois has won four straight Big Ten road games, its longest streak since setting a school record with 13 straight Big Ten road wins from Feb. 3, 2004 through Feb. 19, 2005. 

• Illinois and Nebraska played to overtime for the first time in series history (25th game dating back to 1921). 

• Illinois has won five straight overtime games since 2019. Ayo Dosunmu has scored 13 points (3.25 per OT) and shot 71.4% (5-7) in four of those overtime games (fouled out at Indiana 2/2/21), including five points on 3-of-4 shooting at Nebraska. 

• Illinois had eight blocks at Nebraska, tied for its most in a game this season and the most for the Illini on the road since Feb. 22, 2011 at #2 Ohio State (8).

• Ayo Dosunmu had 31 points, his most career points in a Big Ten game, including 22 points combined in the second half and overtime. Dosunmu's 31 points were the second-most of his career (36 at Missouri 12/12/20) and his fourth 30-point game of the season. Dosunmu made 12 shots, the second-most of his career (13 at Missouri 12/12/20).

• Owning numbers of 21.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game, Ayo Dosunmu is solidifying his candidacy for First-Team All-America status and has moved into the National Player of the Year conversation as well. He is the only player in the NCAA over the last 11 seasons to average at least 20 points, six rebounds and four assists, all while leading Illinois Basketball back among the nation's elite. 

• Kofi Cockburn ranks second in the NCAA with 14 double-doubles this season, behind only Austin Peay's Terry Taylor with 15. He has posted double-doubles in 11 of 13 Big Ten games, averaging 18.9 points and 11.4 rebounds during league play while shooting 69.0% from the field. 

Jacksonville State 80, SIUE 60

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Four players scored in double figures Saturday, but it came in an 80-60 loss at Jacksonville State.

The Cougars dropped to 8-11 overall and 6-7. SIUE has never won a game at Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks improved to 14-7 overall and 10-5 in the OVC.

"We had to call too many plays today," We weren't flowing enough. We had nine assists and 15 turnovers and that's ultimately the game. Which hurts."
Unlike recent games, the Cougars shot just 40 percent from the field and after back-to-back games of 20 or more assists, SIUE settled for just nine against JSU.

"The ball got stuck way to often," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "It's not always the guy with the ball, but it's the guys off the ball. They just weren't cutting. It is a natural reaction, when you're getting pressured, to go further away from the basket instead of going towards the basket."

The Cougars also played the majority of the game with Carlos Curtis, who played the first eight minutes, but left the game with an apparent foot injury.

"Losing Carlos Curtis early in the game hurt us," Barone said. "He is one of the guys who moves the ball extremely well for us."

Sidney Wilson paced the Cougars on offense with 17 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Wilson sank a fade-away three-pointer at the first-half horn to bring SIUE within 10 points (40-30) at the break.

SIUE trimmed JSU's lead to nine point twice during the first 2:30 of the second half.

"We had momentum going into half and we got a stop pretty quick in the second," Barone said. "One action was really flowing for us. And then we got a little hesitant. We wanted to share the ball, so we were then passing up the shots that we did half. That's a problem."

JSU used a 9-2 run to push the lead to 16 points (53-37). The Gamecocks eventually extended the lead to as many as 24 (67-43)

"We had some defensive breakdowns where they got a couple of shots on our mistakes and missed assignments," Barone added. "Then human nature takes over, and we have a lot of guys who want to win and they go in and they over-attack."

Mike Adewunmi (13 points), Shamar Wright (11) and Courtney Carter (10) joined Wilson in scoring in double figures. Adewunmi grabbed a team-high eight rebounds while Carter handed out four assists.

Amanze Mgumezi scored 16 points to lead Jacksonville State. Brandon Huffman scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds for JSU, which outrebounded SIUE 40-29.

SIUE returns to First Community Arena for a 4 p.m. contest Monday vs. Murray State

"That is the schedule that was given to us and that's our task at hand," Barone added.

SIUE will go back on the road to face Austin Peay and Murray State at the end of the week.

"I will continue to say it, but what we continue to ask our guys to do is above and beyond what has ever been asked of college basketball teams across the country," "Our schedule is as difficult as anyone has ever had in terms of the number of dates played and where we're playing."

TTU 80, Eastern Illinois 67

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A career scoring night for Eastern Illinois senior Jordan Skipper-Brown could not help the Panthers overcome a quick start and outside shooting by Tennessee Tech on Saturday night at the Eblen Center. 

TTU made their first three pointers of the game opening the contest with an 11-0 run as they won 80-67. 

Skipper-Brown ended the Golden Eagles opening run with a dunk at the 16:07 mark of the first half as he led EIU with 21 points and seven rebounds. 
Following Skipper-Brown’s dunk, EIU began to warm up from the field as the Panthers went on an 8-0 run with a lay-up and 3-pointer by Barlow Alleruzzo IV. 

A jumper by Marvin Johnson brought EIU to within two points at 29-27 with six minutes remaining.  

Shandon Goldman answered with a jumper and Jr Clay followed with a lay-up to push TTU’s lead back out to six points as they would lead 44-33 at the half. 
Clay scored 16 of his 22 points in the first half.  TTU made nine 3-pointers in the first half finishing with 12 for the game.  

EIU shot 56 percent in the first half and finished at 49 percent for the game.   Johnson had 15 of his 19 points in the second half while Mack Smith added 11. 

TTU pushed its lead out to 16 points in the second half at 59-43 with 11:41 to play on a Damaria Franklin jumper.  EIU would go on a 9-0 run to cut the margin to seven on a Skipper- Brown jumper with 9:12 left in the game. 

Keishawn Davidson answered with five straight points for TTU as he finished with 18 points and EIU would get no closer than eight points the remainder of the game.  Goldman had 20 to round of TTU’s double figure scorers. 

EIU fell to 7-16 overall, 4-12 in the OVC.  TTU improved to 3-19 overall, 3-12 in the OVC.