CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — After flirting with the milestone for most of the season — and last season’s finale against Iowa — Illinois junior guard Ayo Dosunmu finally captured his first career triple-double.
Dosunmu has 19 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in Saturday’s game over No. 19 Wisconsin at the State Farm Center. It’s the first triple-double by an Illini player since Sergio McClain had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists on Jan. 13, 2001, against Michigan.
Wisconsin, the proud owner of a meat-grinding defense that entered the game ranked No. 9 in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency, had no answer for Dosunmu. He attacked the rim at will, often crossing up the Badger defender who drew the short straw of having to defend the pre-season All-American guard. Dosunmu pushed in transition off of defensive rebounds and attacked the rim with authority.
He fed the ball inside to big man Kofi Cockburn, who has firmly joined Dosunmu in the discussion for being an All-American this season. Cockburn flushed Dosunmu's passes home for easy dunks that No. 19 Wisconsin had no hope for defending. Cockburn had a double-double in the first half alone.
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Dosunmu's monster game came after a rare off night in Tuesday’s win against Indiana where he had 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting and fouled out for the first time in his career.
This was a bounce-back performance of epic proportions — and then some. Dosunmu recorded just the 11th triple-double in Division I men’s basketball this season.
This is the fourth time this season Dosunmu has recorded at least a double-double in a game. He had 28 points and 10 rebounds in a season-opening win against North Carolina A&T, had 18 points and 12 rebounds at Duke on Dec. 8 and 22 points and 11 rebounds in a loss at Rutgers on Dec. 20.
Dosunmu was brilliant in distributing the ball on Saturday. He whipped a pass to Trent Frazier in the corner during the first half as a defender sagged off of Williams to cover Cockburn for an easy 3-pointer. On back-to-back scoring possessions in the second half, Dosunmu dazzled with his passing. Frist he made what looked to be a no-look pass in transition — or at least a hardly-looked pass — then found Cockburn on the pay of the day for an ally-oop dunk over Wisconsin's Nate Reuvers.
He’s come close to recording a triple-double this season, including a 27-point, 7-rebound, 8-assist game against Ohio on the Nov. 27, in the third game of the season. He had 22 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists the game before that against Chicago State.
Dosunmu has recorded double-digit rebounds four times this season, and has had at least six assists five times. He had 17 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists in last season’s finale against Iowa.
The only other time Dosunmu has recorded double-figure assists in his career was Jan. 21, 2020 in a win at Purdue, where he recorded 11 assists.
No. 12 Illinois (13-5, 9-3) has won four consecutive games and continues to position itself to be in the mix for a Big Ten championship behind the performance of its two star players and a group of role players who are coming into their own.
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February 07, 2021 at 04:35AM
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Ayo Dosunmu notches first Illini triple-double in 20 years - 247Sports
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