CHAMPAIGN — Ayo Dosunmu tapped into his inner All-American on Friday against Iowa. His game-high — and highly-efficient — 25 points led the way for the Illini in their 80-75 victory.
That performance led to Dosunmu earning Big Ten Player of the Week honors Monday. It’s his fourth total award and third this season.
Dosunmu’s 25-point performance gave him 10 games with at least 20 points this season. Only Iowa senior center Luka Garza has more 20-point games this season with 12.
Dosunmu is the only Big Ten player in the last 11 seasons to average at least 20 points, six rebounds and four assists. He’s just the third to do so since the 1992-93 season, joining Ohio State’s Evan Turner and Indiana’s Brian Evans.
Dosunmu picked up another nod on Monday night, along with sophomore center Kofi Cockburn. Both Illini standouts were named to the Late Season Top 20 Watch List for the John R. Wooden Award, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced.
Cockburn is averaging a double-double for the 12th-ranked Illinois (11-5, 7-3 Big Ten) entering its 8 p.m. showdown Tuesday night at Indiana (9-7, 4-5).
The 7-footer out of Kingston, Jamaica, is averaging 16.9 points and 10.3 rebounds. His 11 double-doubles lead the NCAA.
Illini suffer first loss. The Illinois wrestling team received impressive wins from Luke Odom and Zac Braunagel on Sunday, but that was it for the ninth-ranked Illini during a 36-6 loss at top-ranked Iowa on Sunday afternoon in Iowa City, Iowa.
Odom won 10-6 at 165 pounds against the Hawkeyes’ Joe Kelly with Braunagel collecting a 3-1 decision at 184 in the first sudden-victory overtime period against Nelson Brands.
Iowa largely dominated the match, including three wins by pinfall.
Three-time All-American Spencer Lee, a senior for the Hawkeyes, pinned Justin Cardani at the 2-minute, 30-second mark of their 125-pound match while Iowa’s Jaydin Eierman also collected a win by fall at 141, defeating Dylan Duncan in 6:05, and Hawkeyes sophomore Tony Cassioppi pinned Luke Luffman in their heavyweight match at the 3:25 mark.
Illinois (4-1) will look to bounce back Friday against No. 15 Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Terry dazzles in loss. Jeanae Terry has been on a heater during the past two games for the Illinois women’s basketball team.
But those efforts from the Illini sophomore guard have turned out to be a moot point.
This time a bad second quarter proved costly to Illinois during Sunday’s 69-57 loss against Wisconsin at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.
In a matchup of winless Big Ten teams going into Sunday, the Badgers (4-11, 1-11 Big Ten) outscored the Illini (2-10, 0-9) by 15 points in the second quarter to take a 36-22 halftime lead.
That deficit proved insurmountable to Illinois, which trailed by double digits the rest of the game despite receiving another big game from Terry in the form of 28 points and 11 rebounds.
Nittany Lions prevail. Four event titles and the all-around win wasn’t quite enough for the Illinois men’s gymnastics team to pass Penn State in a 399.300-399.150 loss to the Nittany Lions on Sunday in State College, Pa.
Hamish Carter won both the high bar (13.750) and the all-around (80.250) for the Illini, who also received wins from Michael Fletcher on pommel horse (13.700), Danny Graham on still rings (14.200) and Evan Manivong on vault (14.600).
The match came down to the final rotation with Penn State scoring high on the high bar (64.500), while Illinois struggled on parallel bars (62.600).
Illini fall at home. The Illinois women’s gymnastics team finished with event wins from Mia Townes, Nicole Biondi, Kaitlyn Ewald and Shaylah Scott, but the Illini lost 196.325-195.600 in their home opener Sunday against Iowa.
Townes shared the vault title with the Hawkeyes’ JerQuavia Henderson (9.850), while Biondi and Ewald were tied at the top on uneven parallel bars (9.850) and Scott won the floor exercises (9.900)
