André Curbelo and Illinois win the NCAA Big Ten Championship

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Indianapolis – llinois, number 3 in the nation, achieved an important goal. The next one will be even harder.

While the Fighting Illini held their first Big Ten Tournament title since 2005 with a 91-88 overtime victory over Ohio State (No. 9) on Sunday, they quickly focused on their No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and the opportunity it presents.

“It was crazy, thinking about all the things we’ve achieved and knowing how I got on my visit with coach (Brad) Underwood and I told him these are the things we can achieve,” Ayo Dosunmu said afterwards. to be named the Most Excellent Player of the tournament.

Especially given the rarities of this season.

Despite playing the regular season against a minimum of fans, Illini (23-6) hoisted the trophy under the video board in the middle of the court and watched the selection program with a crowd of fans dressed up. of orange at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Everything seemed perfectly aligned for the deep and versatile Illini.

Dosunmu, Kofi Cockburn and the Puerto Rican André Curbelo they scored 16 points. Cockburn and Dosunmu had nine rebounds each and made the key plays in overtime. Cockburn sank the free throws of the lead with 1:39 to the end and Curbelo followed him with a great 15-foot shot with 50 seconds to play to put up the 84-81 and Illinois finally sealed him on the free throw line.

The 19-year-old boricua, who is in his first year of school, added another achievement after being named Best Sixth Man of the conference, in addition to being added to the All-Freshman team.

Illinois will begin its next search against Drexel, the 16th seed on Friday, after winning seven straight overall and 14 of 15 with six straight wins over the top 10 enemies.

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