Illinois basketball: Illini MVP in the victory over Iowa

The Illinois basketball team pulled out a win over the Iowa Hawkeyes 78-76 on senior night.

This Illini team got a much-needed win over the Hawkeyes. Illinois started off slow as they got down by ten points early in the first half. But the Illini battled back and tied the game up by halftime. In the 2nd half, Illinois played phenomenally. Players did a good job of knocking down shots and moving without the ball.

With that being said, there are co-MVPs for the Illini in this game.

The co-MVPs are Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn. Yes, there were a few players who had a good game on Sunday, but Ayo and Kofi had the biggest impact on the game.

Ayo arguably had the best game of his Illinois career. He scored 17 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 8 assists. He also shot 7-of-16 from the field and made a huge shot to put Illinois up four with 31 seconds left in the game. Ayo did a good job of scoring in transition and finding sweet spots in Iowa’s defense.

Kofi had a bounce-back game against Iowa. He had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block. He shot 5-of-8 from the field and 2-3 from the free throw line. Defensively, Kofi did the best job he could against a Big Ten Player of the Year, Luka Garza.

Other players also had good games. Kipper Nichols scored 10 points while shooting 100-percent from the field. Andres Feliz scored 14 points while shooting 70-percent from the field. Da’Monte Williams also scored 9 points while shooting 75-percent from the field. Illinois won’t play until Friday as winning this game gave them the double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament.