FRENCH LICK, Ind.  – The Fighting Illini men's golf team battled back to erase nearly all of a 10-shot deficit in Round 2 of the Big Ten Championships at The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort on Saturday. The Orange and Blue posted balanced scoring throughout the lineup – all four scorers carded rounds of 1-over 73 – to pull within a single-stroke of 36-hole leader Michigan State with 18 holes remaining. 

Saturday's effort sets the stage for a Round 3 battle for the conference crown as the Illini search for their seventh consecutive, their 12^th of 13, and the program's 19^th overall Big Ten Title when play resumes Sunday morning.  

"Optimistically, you look at today and we made up ground," head coach Mike Small said. "We're back in this thing and it's anybody's ball game. Tomorrow, we've put ourselves in position where a good round will give us a chance. At the same time, we didn't close out the round and continue the momentum that we had built earlier. The two birdies (on 18) by Jerry and Adrien were timely, and we need to use those as a jump-start for tomorrow."

As a team, Illinois shot a 292 (+4) on Saturday, the second-lowest team round of the day behind Maryland (291), while MSU combined for a 13-over 301, pulling the Spartans back to the pack. Behind the Spartans (577) and Illini (578), Purdue remains in the hunt with a two-round total of 582, followed by Northwestern (584) and Maryland (585) to round out the top five on the team standings.

Senior Adrien Dumont de Chassart remains alone atop the individual leaderboard with 18 holes to play. He followed his career-low 64 (-8) in Round 1 (one shy of the course record and Big Ten Championship records) with a 73 (+1) on Saturday to sit at 7-under with a three-shot edge in his bid for a second individual Big Ten Championship (2019).

Junior Jerry Ji shot 73 for the second straight round, ascending 12 spots up the individual leaderboard to sit just outside the top 10 in a tie for 12^th 2-over. Freshman Jackson Buchanan and senior Tommy Kuhl also matched the 1-over 73s posted by Dumont de Chassart and Ji on Saturday to close out the scoring the Illini. Buchanan is 4-over in a tie for 28^th, while Kuhl (+5) sits in a tie for 34^th with teammate Piercen Hunt (74-75—149) entering the final round.

Round 3 is set to begin with tee times on Sunday starting at 8 a.m. ET/7 a.m. CT. The Illini, paired with MSU and Purdue, will start on No. 1 beginning at 9:25 a.m. ET/8:25 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available throughout the final round on Golfstat.com.

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