EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Trent Frazier missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have won the game for Illinois, but it hit the back of the iron giving Northwestern a 68-66 win Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Freshman Ayo Dosunmu had 18 points and graduate transfer Adonis De La Rosa added 12 to lead the Fighting Illini.
Northwestern's A.J. Turner hit a 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left to give Northwestern the 68-66 lead.
Vic Law had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Northwestern (10-5, 1-3). Northwestern won last season's meeting 72-68 in overtime, while the Illini have dominated the overall series 134-42.
Giorgi Bezhanishvili gave Illinois a 66-65 lead on a follow basket with 1:31 to play. After each team had a scoreless possession, Northwestern got the ball back with 34.5 seconds to go. Turner missed a wild 3-point attempt with just under 20 seconds left, but Dererk Pardon grabbed the rebound and threw it back out to Turner for the game-winning basket.
Following a slow start offensively, Northwestern received a lift when freshman Ryan Greer entered the game at point guard seven minutes into the game. The Wildcats rallied for a 24-16 lead with five minutes left before halftime and seemingly had taken control.
But Illinois, after going scoreless for more than four minutes, closed the first half with a 15-1 run to take a 31-25 lead at the intermission.
Law had just two points on 1-for-6 shooting in the first half. He finished 4 for 12 from the field with six turnovers.
Illinois stretched its lead to eight points early in the second half before Northwestern rallied to tie the score at 42 on a 3-point play by Anthony Gaines with 13 minutes to go. Two minutes later, Law hit a pair of free throws to put the Wildcats back on top, 45-43.
The game stayed tight the rest of the way.
UP NEXT: Illinois (4-11, 0-4) hosts No. 2 Michigan on Thursday night.
ILLINOIS POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM NOTES
• Illinois is 134-42 all-time against Northwestern.
• Illinois held Northwestern without a field goal for the final 5:02 of the first half and the first 3:29 of the second half, totaling 8:31 straight minutes.
• Illinois was 22-27 from the free-throw line, the Illini's second most made free throws this season (23 vs. Ohio State 12/5/18).
• Illinois did not make a three-pointer (0-11) for the first time since going 0-10 against Tulsa 11/29/2008.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• Freshman guard Ayo Dosunmu scored 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Dosunmu is averaging 19.7 points per game in the last three games.
• Sophomore guard Da'Monte Williams made a career-high eight free throws and totaled 10 points, one off his career high of 11 he last achieved against Georgetown 11/13/2018.
• Senior center Adonis De La Rosa scored a season-high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
