INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time in 13 years, Illinois will play for a postseason title. The No. 3-ranked Illini certainly have looked like a championship team during its first two games of the Big Ten Tournament, including an impressive 82-71 win over No. 5 Iowa during Saturday’s semifinal.
In a battle of Big Ten heavyweight big men, Kofi Cockburn notched his third straight head-to-head win over Big Ten Player of the Year Luka Garza in the post to lead Illinois to its first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament title game since 2008. Illinois will play No. 5 seed Ohio State, ranked No. 9 in this week’s AP Top 25, at 2:30 p.m. CT Sunday (CBS).
Cockburn dominated the interior with 26 points (11-for-17 FG) to go along with eight rebounds. Meanwhile, Iowa star Luka Garza finished with 21 points (and 12 rebounds) but shot a relatively inefficient 8 of 21 from the field. Illinois (22-6) has now won 13 of its 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-for-13 from three) for Iowa (21-8), while Joe Wieskamp added 12 points and seven rebounds.
The two teams traded blows early before the Illini went on a 9-0 run to take a 22-14 lead, highlighted by back-to-back dunks by Curbelo and Cockburn. Iowa cut the Illini lead to five before a Jacob Grandison steal led to two Adam Miller free throws to give Illinois a 45-37 halftime lead. The Illini built a 14-point advantage early in the second half and held off several Iowa runs when Cockburn sat on the bench with some late foul trouble, including a huge three by Adam Miller midway through the half.
Iowa then went on an 8-0 run in 81 seconds with Cockburn on the bench with four fouls to trim the deficit to 74-69 with 3:42 left. But Curbelo stripped Bohannon for a steal that led to a Dosunmu dunk to give Illinois a cushion. Cockburn then scored on back-to-back possessions to close out the Hawkeyes.
Illinois led for the final 34:03 of the game.
Stats of the game: Illinois dominated Iowa in the post, outscoring Iowa 52-24 in the paint. Illinois also outrebounded Iowa 42-35. The Hawkeyes had a huge advantage from three, making 8 of 24 threes while Illinois made just 3 of 15 from beyond the arc.
Illinois outscored Iowa 19 to 9 on the fastbreak, scoring 19 points off 12 Iowa turnovers.
Illinois had 10 dunks. There were seasons (maybe multiple-season stretches) during the last decade that Illinois may not have 10 dunks.
Star of the game: Kofi Cockburn outplayed and rattled the likely National Player of the Year. While Garza got his, Cockburn gave him nothing easy in the paint and forced him into a jump shooter. Meanwhile, Garza had no answer for Cockburn’s brute force at the rim on offense. If Cockburn can win a matchup against the NPOY, then Illinois may have a matchup advantage in the paint against any team in the country.
Don’t overlook: Illini freshmen Andre Curbelo and Adam Miller made some big plays during the game and certainly don’t seem afraid of the moment in front of crowds for the first time of their college careers. Curbelo was an offensive dynamo but also had three momentum-changing steals, and Miller halted an Iowa run with a monster three-pointer midway through the second half.
What it means: Illinois wasn’t given a Big Ten regular-season title by the Big Ten, despite its objections after playing three more games and earning two more wins than outright champion Michigan — which won by win percentage, as agreed to by Big Ten athletic directors — but the Illini will have a chance to win a Big Ten banner for the first time in 16 years. That will be part of an extra-special Selection Sunday for a program that has been irrelevant on college basketball’s biggest day for most of the past decade.
What’s next: Illinois will play No. 5-seed Ohio State, ranked No. 9 in this week’s AP Top 25, for the Big Ten Tournament Championship at 2:30 p.m. CT Sunday (CBS) and will try to claim its first conference tournament title since 2005. The Illini are 2-4 in Big Ten Tournament title games, losing their most recent 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, finishing the game on a 9-0 run.
