CHAMPAIGN, Ill, (AP) — As Illinois coach Brad Underwood watched Northwestern play his Illini down to the wire, he couldn’t help but feel he was watching his own team from a year ago.
Trent Frazier scored 16 points, including hitting four 3-pointers, and Underwood’s No. 24 Illinois hung on for a 75-71 win over the Wildcats on Saturday.
“Northwestern is young but, boy, are they talented,” Underwood said. “It was very much like watching our team from last year.”
Illinois (13-4, 5-2 Big Ten) had five players in double figures. Ayo Dosunmu scored 14 points, Giorgi Bezhanishvili had 13, Kofi Cockburn 12 and Andres Feliz added 10.
“It feels good to be 5-2 and second in the Big Ten,” Dosunmu said. “But we have more work to do, and we start it at tomorrow’s practice.”
Illinois led by four at the half and was up 69-60 with 3:50 remaining. Northwestern went on an 8-2 run capped by A.J. Turner’s 3-pointer with 44 seconds left. Dosunmu answered with a jumper 26 seconds later. Miller Kopp hit a 3-pointer with 7 seconds remaining to get Northwestern within 73-71. Dosunmu then hit two free throws a second later to seal the game.
“You want to stop Ayo? Go ahead,” Underwood said.
“I just came up big,” Dosunmu said of his late-game jumper. “Got to my pull up and it came up clean.”
Robbie Beran led Northwestern (6-11, 1-6) with 17 points. Kopp had 16 points, Pat Spencer 14 and Ryan Young added 12.
Frazier was 3 of 5 from the field in the first half, all three from beyond the 3-point line, He also hit two free throws and led all scorers with 11 points before halftime.
Illinois led 38-34 at the half.
