The Champaign Room · Jan 27, 2022
Throwback Thursday: The Last Time Illinois Visited Evanston
The Illinois Fighting Illini (14-5, 7-2 Big Ten) travel to Welsh-Ryan Arena to face the Northwestern Wildcats (9-8, 2-6 Big Ten) Saturday afternoon. This will be the first of two meetings this season. And if it’s anything like last year’s game in Evanston, it’s going to be bizarre.
Let’s travel back in time to Jan. 7, 2021.
Illinois won this game 81-56. That on its own wouldn’t be a completely odd result — the Illini were a top-15 team and had two of the Big Ten’s best players in Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu, while the Wildcats were continuing to rebuild following an 8-win season the year prior. But it’s how the game played out that was truly confounding.