The business is starting to get finished.
For the first time in 16 years, the Illini have won the Big Ten tournament. The clincher? A classic: a 91-88 victory over No. 9 Ohio State in overtime to claim just the third conference tournament title in program history.
And, boy, was it a hard-fought game, that needed overtime to settle. To no surprise, the game was iced by a pair of Ayo Dosunmu free throws in OT.
Illinois’ stingy defense was as good as ever to open the game, holding the No. 5 seed Ohio State to without a basket (0-for-9 FG) until nearly seven minutes had gone by in the opening frame.