In 'put up or shut up' game, Illini come through
Brad Underwood found a lot to like about No. 6 Illinois' 83-68 win at No. 10 Duke Tuesday in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, and one of his favorite plays didn't show up in the box score.
Late in the second half with the Illini up 12, freshman Adam Miller dove for a loose ball, saving it from going out of bounds. Teammate Da'Monte Williams quickly snatched it.
A couple weeks ago there was a similar play in practice, and Miller didn't dive for the ball. It wasn't Underwood who scolded him. Junior Ayo Dosunmu let Miller know.
"That's so awesome," Underwood said. "That's how you win. The beauty of Ayo doing that is I didn't have to do that. No better teachers than our veterans."
Dosunmu is proving a leader both in actions like that and his play on the court. He led Illinois with 18 points Tuesday and needed just 11 shots to do it, also posting team-highs of 12 rebounds and 5 assists.
Duke (2-2) never cut the Illini's lead to single digits in the second half.
"We really challenged him on the glass," Underwood said. "I thought Ayo was outstanding. Ayo just settles everything down. There's a lot of value in experience."
Illinois made plenty of improvements from an 82-69 loss the previous week to No. 2 Baylor.
Several of them came on the defensive end. They defended the pick and roll much better, and Underwood said they followed the scouting report perfectly, understanding who to leave open on the arc as the Blue Devils sank just 5 of 22 3s.
Illinois (4-1), meanwhile, continued to sizzle from 3 making 7 of 11. They are at 47.3% on the season after a Big Ten worst 30.9% last year. Williams, just 28.3% a year ago, has made 9 of 13, and Trent Frazier is 11 for 22.
Dosunmu said winning at Duke, where the Blue Devils are now 261-11 in nonconference games under Mike Krzyzewski, meant more after the Baylor setback.
"If we won or lost the last game I think we still belonged with the elite of the elite, but it definitely was put up or shut up time," Dosunmu said. "We had an opportunity to play two really good teams. We accepted the challenge."
Two of Duke's 11 nonconference home losses are against the Illini, and two of them have come this year with Michigan State also winning at Cameron Indoor. The Blue Devils might not be what they have been recently, but they still have a roster filled with six 5-star players and Jalen Johnson, projected as a lottery pick.
They had no answer for the balanced Illini, who raced to a 14-2 lead in the first four minutes. Kofi Cockburn (13 points, 8 rebounds), Andre Curbelo, Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Frazier and Williams joined Dosunmu in double figures, and Miller just missed with 9 points.
"We know everybody is going to load up on Ayo," Underwood said. "His patience tonight was exquisite. We made a lot of extra passes. That's been a real strength. We are a good passing team and offense becomes more efficient when you do that."
Next up is Illinois' annual Braggin' Rights game Saturday at Missouri, the first time since 1979 the game won't be played in St. Louis. Missouri won a coin flip to host the game.
The Tigers are off to a 3-0 start including an upset over Oregon. Former Illini Mark Smith leads the way at 17 points per game, and he's won all three Braggin' Rights games he's played in - for Illinois as a freshman and the last two with Mizzou.