Northwestern showed it had a pulse, but Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu showed again he can jolt his team to life.
The Illini star supplied the late-game daggers, scoring eight points in the final 4:14 to separate No. 5 Illinois from the charging and desperate Wildcats for a 73-66 victory Tuesday night in Champaign.
The win helps keep Illinois (15-5, 11-3) in the race for the Big Ten title and in the hunt for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Northwestern (6-13, 3-12) missed an upset opportunity, losing its 12th straight.
Dosunmu had scored only five points as Northwestern crept to a 60-59 deficit with 4:45 left. Like he did against Nebraska in Saturday’s overtime victory, he flipped a switch to carry Illinois to victory, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
After two straight Chase Audige baskets cut the Illinois lead to 65-63 with 1:54 to play, Dosunmu sank a 3-pointer on the other end for some breathing room. On the next possession, he hit a long-range 3, sparking a celebration on the Illinois bench.
Center Kofi Cockburn finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Adam Miller and Giorgi Bezhanishvili each scored 10. Bezhanishvili’s all came in the first half, which was particularly helpful as Cockburn played only five first-half minutes with two fouls and Dosunmu’s shots weren’t falling.
Audige rallied Northwestern, finishing with 22 points on 9-of-21 shooting.
