Illini Defense Halts High-Scoring Iowa in ‘Statement Win’ Over a Top 10 Program

In the first matchup of the 2020-21 season against Iowa, No. 19 Illinois relied on its defense to pull off a win over a Top 10 opponent on its home court.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Forget the cliche or offense winning games and defense winning championships because on a Friday night in State Farm Center, Illinois took a serious issue with that declaration.

“Everyone knows where we stand with Iowa and where Iowa stands with us relationship-wise.,” Dosunmu said. “It was a statement win in order to win a Big Ten championship. We needed this one.”

In a 80-75 victory over No. 7 Iowa in the first matchup between the two hated rivals in this 2020-21 season, Illinois (11-5, 7-3 in Big Ten Conference) held the high-scoring Hawkeyes to just four field goals over the final seven minutes with no free throw attempts.

“It was a winning mentality and that's what we've been talking about. You've got to take great, great pride in what you do on the defensive side. If you can stop them (Iowa), I feel like we can do that against anybody in the country,” Underwood said. “Tonight would’ve been a night that Illini fans would’ve remembered for quite some time...and we did it our way. We did it with great defense.”

After struggling for 30 minutes to make life anything but easy for Iowa’s All-America selection Luka Garza, the 6-foot-11 center had just two points during that specific seven-minute stretch and he had just one more made field goals (three) than fouls (two) in the second half.

“When we win the war, we win the game,” Illinois guard Trent Frazier said. “I thought we made it tough on them late in this game. We defended, got the rebound and made our free throws at the end. That’s what it’s all about.”

Garza ended the evening with 19 points but Friday night in Champaign represented only the fourth time the Naismith Player of the Year candidate was under the 20-point mark in Iowa’s 16 games this season.

“Tonight would’ve been a night that Illini fans would’ve remembered for quite some time...and we did it our way. We did it with great defense.” - Illinois head coach Brad Underwood

Frazier, who said he took it personally when he was left off the NCAA”s midseason defensive player of the year award list, took out his frustration on the Iowa perimeter defense with 24 points. The senior guard nailed 8 of 13 shots and 4 of 9 from beyond the 3-point line.

“I now call him ‘No Hesitate Trent’ (because) sometimes when I feed him the ball, he’ll hesitate and I tell him to put it up with confidence,” Dosunmu said of his veteran guard teammate.

On the defensive end of the floor, Frazier was instrumental in Iowa being 4 of 12 from 3-point range against a team that came to the arena tonight getting over 38 percent of its offense from beyond the arc.

Dosunmu, the other preseason All-America selection on the floor with Garza, led all scorers with 25 points and the junior from Chicago opened this contest in spectacular form. In his last four games, Dosunmu was just 6 of 25 in the first 20 minutes of action but the player who famously said about Iowa “we just don’t like them, plain and simple” hit nine of his first 12 shots in the first 20 minutes of this game. Dosunmu was able to get the Illini transition offense off and racing for 18 fast break points.

Iowa (12-4, 6-3), which entered Friday night as the second-best team in the nation in offensive efficiency, has now lost two games in a row over an eight-day period in arguably two of its worst offensive performances in league play.

Illinois is slated to next play Tuesday night at Indiana for a 8 p.m. tip in a rematch of the Illini’s Dec. 26 win over the Hoosiers.