Ayo Dosunmu scored 30 points, Kofi Cockburn added 15 points and 15 rebounds, and No. 18 Illinois beat Indiana 69-60. The game was close until about midway through the second half, when Dosunmu hit three consecutive 3-pointers to fuel Illinois’ 14-0 run. Andre Curbelo added five assists for Illinois. Armaan Franklin led Indiana with 23 points, and big man Trayce Jackson-Davis added 11. Neither team could find the basket in the first three minutes of the game, and the Hoosiers went on a 7-0 run while Illinois went 0 for 7 from the field. Following a 6-0 Illini run, both teams settled in and traded baskets for most of the opening frame.
In other college basketball news:
-Virginia has owned one of the very best defenses in men’s college basketball over the last two years. Gonzaga wasn’t impressed. Corey Kispert and Drew Timme (TIH’-mee) combined for 61 points as the top-ranked Bulldogs clobbered the No. 16 Cavaliers, 98-75 in Fort Worth, Texas. Kispert established career highs by nailing nine 3-pointers and scoring 32 points. Timme added a career-best 29 points with eight rebounds to help the Zags move to 7-0. Gonzaga shot 60% against a Virginia team that hadn’t allowed an opponent to hit more than 40% of its shots. The Zags almost became the first team in 10 years to score 100 points against the Cavaliers.
-Marcus Sasser scored 19 points and Caleb Mills furnished seven of his 12 points in the closing minutes, helping No. 6 Houston escape with a 63-54 win at UCF. The Cougars held the Knights to one field goal over the final 8:50 and shot 11-for-11 from the line in the last 2 1/2 minutes to improve to 7-0.
-Northwestern is 3-0 in the Big Ten for the first time in 53 years after Miller Kopp scored 23 points and Boo Buie had 14 in a 71-70 downing of No. 23 Ohio State. Pete Nance added 10 points to the Wildcats’ fourth win in a row.
