Illinois Fighting Illini vs Wisconsin Badgers Box Score on Feb 27, 2021

Kofi Cockburn scored 19 points and freshman Andre Curbelo added 17 as No. 5 Illinois hung on without its star player in a 74-69 win over No. 23 Wisconsin on Saturday at Madison, Wis.

Da'Monte Williams added 12 points for Illinois (18-6 overall, 14-4 in Big Ten), which won for the ninth time in 10 games despite playing without national player of the year candidate Ayo Dosunmu (facial injury) for a second straight contest.

What looked like an easy run for the Fighting Illini became a challenge when D'Mitrik Trice (29 points) scored 19 straight points -- including five consecutive 3-pointers. The surge pulled Wisconsin within one at 70-69 with 5.7 seconds remaining.

Trent Frazier made a pair of free throws to give Illinois a 3-point lead, and the Badgers' Trevor Anderson missed twice from the charity stripe. Jacob Grandison's two free throws finally sealed the game for Illinois, which overcame 20 turnovers by shooting 52.1 percent.

Even with Trice's late surge, Wisconsin (16-9, 10-8) shot 34.8 percent from the floor en route to losing a third consecutive league home game.

Illinois didn't miss Dosunmu early, as five points from Williams and four via Giogi Bezhanishvili paced an 11-0 run through the first seven minutes of the game. The Illini, who went 13-of-20 from the field over the first 20 minutes, led by as many as 12 in the first half.

Wisconsin missed 14 of its first 15 shots, but used a 10-0 run of its own to get within 22-20. However, a Curbelo 3-pointer, followed by Frazier's basket and a free throw from Bezhanishvili enabled Illinois to regain its cushion.

Curbelo scored the Illini's final two baskets of the half, as they took a 37-26 lead into the break. Illinois missed six of its first seven shots of the second half as baskets by Micah Potter (15 points), Jonathan Davis and Tyler Wahl got the Badgers within six before a Bezhanishvili score gave Illinois a 42-34 lead.

A stretch that included a Cockburn dunk, 3 from Grandison and Curbelo bucket quickly had the Illini's lead back in double digits at 49-35 with 9:34 left in the game before Trice got hot.

--Field Level Media