This is not the week the Illini envisioned.
Instead of traveling to No. 3 Michigan for a chance at first place in the Big Ten, the No. 6 Illini scheduled a trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, on Friday to battle the Cornhuskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena. In a game that was much closer than expected, Ayo Dosunmu and Illinois hung on to beat Nebraska 77-72 in overtime.
It wasn’t the type of game the Illini wanted, trailing the Big Ten’s bottom feeders 9-0 by Friday’s first media timeout, and trailing by as many as six late in the second half.