By JAMES ALLAN
hawkeyesports.com
INDIANAPOLIS – Second-seeded Illinois scored 52 points in the paint to bounce the third-seeded University of Iowa men’s basketball team from the Big Ten Tournament in a semifinal matchup with an 82-71 victory Saturday afternoon at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Illini led by as many as 14 early in the second half and the lead hovered around double digits for much of the half. Illinois led 74-61 with 5:19 to play before the Hawkeyes made a late push
A Jordan Bohannon 3-pointer cut the deficit to 10 and Connor McCaffery made two free throws to get the deficit to 74-66 with five minutes to play. Bohannon made a transition 3 at the 3:42 mark to 74-69 and Iowa had the ball trying to get closer.
Andre Curbelo poked the ball away from Bohannon on the next possession for a steal and that led to a Ayo Dosunmu dunk. Two Bohannon free throws got Iowa to within 76-71 with 2:45 to play, but Kofi Kockburn followed with back-to-back field goals – a layup and dunk – to seal the win.
“In a game like this, every possession is important,” said junior Connor McCaffery. “I feel like we couldn’t get a bounce and we couldn’t get a call, and at times, we buckled down and fought through it. There were a couple possessions where we let it get to us a little bit and that’s the difference in the game.
“It was a five-point game with three minutes to go. With everything that happened, we were right there.”
Illinois used an 8-0 run in the first half to take command, turning a 14-13 deficit into a 21-14 advantage. The lead went to double digits (41-31) on a Trent Frazier 3-pointer and Illinois led 45-37 at the break.
“We put ourselves in a better situation in the second half, we contained their guards better and defended the paint better, but we gave up a lot of paint points and they came up with stops on the defensive end when they needed to,” said Bohannon. “We got within five (late), but it was around a 7-8 point deficit the entire game. That started in the first half when we dug ourselves a hole.”
Senior Luka Garza paced Iowa with 21 points and 12 rebounds, but the center was limited to 8-of-21 shooting. Bohannon scored 20 points with five 3-pointers and six assists, and junior Joe Wieskamp scored 12 points and had seven rebounds.
Illinois made only 3-of-15 3-point field goals, but it didn’t need them as it shot 48.5 percent thanks to its 52 points in the paint. The Hawkeyes shot 40.6 percent and made 8 3s, but were out-rebounded 42-35 in the game.
The Illini also scored 19 points off 12 Hawkeye turnovers.
Cockburn had a game-high 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting to go along with eight rebounds. Dosunmu had a line of 18 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds.
