Illinois Basketball: Top 5 most thrilling finishes of the last decade

4. March 8, 2020: Illini edge out the Hawkeyes in 2019-20 season finale

These Illini were out to get revenge against the Iowa Hawkeyes who defeated them earlier in the season.

Immediately following that Hawkeyes victory in February, emotions flared between the Illinois assistant coaches and Iowa head coach Fran McCaffrey, who ultimately decided to not shake hands with the Illini, leaving the two teams with bad blood.  That bad blood was more than evident in what would be the season finale.

In the second matchup of the two teams, 37 fouls, four of which were technical fouls, were called in the dogfight.  Both teams traded leads until the Illini appeared to be running away with the game late in the second half.

An Ayo Dosunmu jumper gave Illinois a 15-point lead with 7:06 remaining in the game.  It looked all but over.  Apparently, that was not the case as Iowa would eventually storm back and come within two points with just under a minute remaining.

After the Hawkeyes brought the game within two points, the Illini made sure to milk the clock the following possession.  After taking 26 seconds off the clock, Ayo hits a clutch jump-shot to give the Illini a four-point lead and a little bit of breathing room.

Following the Ayo shot, Iowa star big man Luka Garza immediately slams in a dunk on the other end of the floor to make it a two-point game again.  After an Illinois missed free-throw, the Hawkeyes would regain possession.

Following a missed layup by the Hawkeyes, the ball would land out of bounds after bouncing off an Illini player.  The Hawkeyes retained possession under their basket with just over one second remaining.  Iowa inbounded the ball to Garza who was guarded by Illinois’ 7-foot Big Ten Freshman of the Year Kofi Cockburn.  Garza tries to get a shot off but is stuffed by Kofi as the buzzer sounds.

The Illini get revenge on the Hawkeyes to close out a very exciting 2019-2020 season.