CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Freshman Ayo Dosunmu scored 21 points and senior Aaron Jordan 20 as Illinois closed the non-conference season with a 73-71 overtime loss to Florida Atlantic Saturday at State Farm Center.
The Illini trailed by nine with 5:56 left and by six with under a minute remaining before mounting a furious rally. Trent Frazier scored five quick points to slice into the deficit and then Dosunmu tied the game with a three with 3.1 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Illinois (4-9) led by one late in OT, but Frazier missed two free throws with 28.8 left and then FAU's Anthony Adger followed with an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Owls a 73-71 lead with 20 seconds left. The Illini had two chances to win in the final seconds, but threes by Da'Monte Williams and Dosunmu were off the mark as time expired.
The Owls were 25 of 57 from the field (44 percent), compared to a 24-of-76 effort (32 percent) for Illinois.
The Illini missed nineteen layups in the game, twelve coming in the second half.
Adger scored a career-high 27 points to lead Florida Atlantic (9-4). Madiaw Niang added 12 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for his first career double-double for the Owls.
Illinois led 26-21 at the half after a slow start for both teams.
UP NEXT: The Illini resume Big Ten play with back-to-back road games at No. 23 Indiana on Thursday, Jan. 3, and then at Northwestern on Sunday, Jan. 6.
ILLINOIS POSTGAME NOTES
Team Notes
• Saturday's game marked the first-ever meeting between Illinois and Florida Atlantic.
• Saturday's 73-71 loss Florida Atlantic marks Illinois' first overtime game this season and the first since a 104-97 overtime loss to Iowa on January 11, 2018.
• Illinois held Florida Atlantic scoreless for the last 6:18 of the first half, going on a 7-0 run in that span to take a five-point lead into the second half. In all, the Illini held the Owls without a field goal for 7:41 between the first and second halves. • Illinois knocked down nine three-pointers in Saturday's game, marking the eighth game this season that the Orange and Blue have netted nine or more from distance.
Individual Notes
• Freshman G Ayo Dosunmu knocked down a three-pointer to tie the game at 63 with 3.1 seconds on the clock and send the contest into overtime.
• Dosunmu finished with 21 points to mark the seventh double-figure scoring game of his career and the second scoring 20 points or more.
• Dosunmu knocked down four three-pointers (4-11), setting a new career high for three-point field goals made. His previous best was three, which he originally set against Georgetown (Nov. 13) and matched against Xavier (Nov. 21).
• Dosunmu and Giorgi Bezhanishvili combined for 17 of Illinois' 26 first-half points. Dosunmu led all scorers with 12 points before the break.
• Senior G Aaron Jordan has now made a three-pointer in 11-straight games and in 12 of 13 on the season. He finished Saturday's game 3-for-8 from distance.
• Jordan was among Illinois scoring leaders with 20 points on the day. The performance marks his sixth game in double-figures this season and his second consecutive game registering 10 or more points. He has scored 20 or more points in two games this year and four times in his career.
• Freshman G Alan Griffin grabbed six rebounds to set a new career-best. His previous high was set at four against Notre Dame (Nov. 27).
• Sophomore G Trent Frazier nabbed five steals on Saturday to match his career-best and mark the fourth time this season he has grabbed three or more steals. He is averaging 1.9 steals per game this season.
• Junior G Andres Feliz also registered three steals on the day to match his career high, which he originally set against Georgetown (Nov. 13).
• Fraizer and Feliz combined for eight of Illinois' nine steals on the day. The performance marks the second time this season that two Illini have registered three or more steals each in the same contest (Georgetown, Nov. 13).
