The Illini stand among the very elite in college basketball this season. They reaffrimed that by crushing Michigan without star guard Ayo Dosunmu.
www.stltoday.com
Pick a verb to describe what the Illini did to the Wolverines: Obliterate, decimate, annihilate, eradicate, liquidate, exterminate . . . any of those would do.
“They played with great activity from the jump of the ball,” Michigan captain
Isaiah Livers said. “They hit us first, we weren't prepared. Mistakes built on, we tried to fix them the second half, hit some big shots, but they had the momentum. Felt like there were on a run the whole game. We've got to counter. We didn't do a great job of countering off their adjustments.”
Writing for
CBSSports.com, Kyle Boone summed up the value of this blowout for the Illini.
Illinois has now won 10 of its last 11 games and heaved itself into title contention after a bumpy couple of weeks in December and January. To demolish a Michigan team the way it did without Dosunmu, considering the way this Michigan team has played, should force you to recalibrate expectations. There are only a handful of true, viable teams capable of winning the tournament. The Illini showed with a statement they are undoubtedly among them.