Terrence Shannon Jr. scores 34 points, making 15 out of 17 free throws, helping Illinois secure the Big Ten tournament championship by beating Wisconsin 93-87.
Marcus Domask contributes 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and Dain Dainja adds nine points and seven rebounds for the Illini (26-8), who shoot 16 of 26 in the second half to win their second conference tournament title in four years. They overcome a double-digit deficit in all three games.
Coach Brad Underwood said, “It was a bit different every night. I like that.”
A.J. Storr scores 24 points and Chucky Hepburn adds 20 points for the Badgers (22-13), who shoot 7 for 20 from 3-point range after going 33 for 79 in their first three games.
Shannon ends with 102 points in three games, just one point short of the Big Ten Tournament record, and is selected as the Most Outstanding Player. Keegan Murray had 103 points for Iowa in 2022, but the Hawkeyes played four games that year on the way to the title.
After celebrating with orange-and-blue confetti and cutting down the nets at Target Center, the Illini quickly move to a side room for the NCAA Tournament selection show to find out they’re the No. 3 seed in the East Region, with a first-round game on Friday against Morehead State.
Wisconsin is given the No. 5 seed in the South Region and will face James Madison in the first round.
Underwood praises Wisconsin, saying, “They are really good. They will make a lot of noise.”
Shannon, who sets the Big Ten Tournament single-game record with 40 points in the semifinal win over Nebraska, still has a pending rape charge in Kansas for an alleged incident last year. His school-issued suspension was overturned by a federal judge after six games.
The Wisconsin fans frequently taunted him, but he remains calm. He calmly makes a 3-pointer off the break to give Illinois a 41-40 lead with 31 seconds left before halftime, and blows a kiss at the crowd of 13,991, which was mostly filled with red-clad Badgers fans.
Hepburn’s three-point play gives Wisconsin a game-high 61-51 lead, but Illinois goes on a 21-5 run over the next 6 minutes to ensure a close finish.
Max Klesmit makes a 3-pointer for an 82-81 lead with 3:53 to go and another to tie with 1:57 left, but Shannon responds with a deep shot on the other end to make it 88-85 with 88 seconds remaining. Then he steals a careless dribble from Storr, drives the other way to draw a foul and makes both free throws for a five-point lead.
Coleman Hawkins, who scores seven points, grabs six rebounds and blocks two shots, says, “At times in my career, those 3s would have just ruined everything. We made some mistakes, but we managed to keep playing.”
Hepburn is a hero of Wisconsin’s overtime win against top-seeded Purdue in the semifinals on Saturday, scoring the tying layup at the buzzer in regulation and drawing a crucial charging foul to set up Klesmit’s game-winner.
The junior guard surpasses the 1,000-point mark for his career in this game and contributes in various ways, after missing the quarterfinal win over Northwestern due to a knee injury.
Hawkins thinks he is one of the top players in the league and believes their team is very good when he plays aggressively.
Illinois won the only regular-season game between these teams two weeks ago, with a 91-83 victory powered by Domask's 31 points in his first game in Wisconsin since high school. The transfer from Southern Illinois, who was selected for the first team All-Big Ten with Shannon, made 8 of 11 shots in this game.
Domask said, 'I discussed winning the ring with the Coach during the recruiting process, and we achieved it by coming here.'
Both the Badgers and the Illini appeared in the conference title game for the eighth time, which was held for the 26th time. This total is only surpassed by Ohio State's nine appearances. Michigan State has the most Big Ten Tournament championships with seven.
