Illinois Basketball: 3 observations from the Illini win over Northwestern

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CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 18: Illinois Fighting Illini center Kofi Cockburn (21) shoots a free throw during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 18, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Illinois basketball team took on rival Northwestern Saturday night in what was an extremely close game.

This was the first game since December 2014 where the Illini suited up as a ranked program. That is a long stretch without being ranked, but this would have been an easy letdown game for the fans. That didn’t happen.

Northwestern kept this game tight the entire night. Five minutes into the game, Andres Feliz had to hit a three-pointer to regain the lead 11-10. With 10 minutes to go in the half, the game was tied 21-21. There was a lot of scoring, which surprised me.

With five minutes until halftime, Illinois took the lead back 29-27 with an Ayo Dosunmu three-pointer. The teams went back and forth the rest of the first half, and Illinois went into the halftime locker room up 38-34.

The second half wasn’t much different. Illinois would try to get a big lead, but the Wildcats would rebound nicely. With 10 minutes to go in the game, Illinois held a 55-51 lead. The biggest lead of the game was when the Illini increased the margin to nine points at 67-58 with 5:07 remaining. I thought this game could have been over at that point. I was wrong.

Northwestern went on a run and got the game back to 71-68 with 44 seconds remaining. Ayo was able to hit two free throws to seal the game, though. Illinois took down Northwestern 75-71.

Here are three observations from the Illini win over Northwestern.

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