Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 34 points in another high-octane effort and No. 13 Illinois recorded a 93-87 victory over Wisconsin to win the Big Ten tournament title on Sunday in Minneapolis.
Marcus Domask added 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for the second-seeded Fighting Illini (26-8). Illinois claimed the Big Ten’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament by winning the conference tourney for the second time in four seasons and the fourth time overall.
AJ Storr had 24 points and three steals and Chucky Hepburn added 20 points and three steals for the fifth-seeded Badgers (22-13). Max Klesmit scored 16 points and Steven Crowl had 11 for Wisconsin, which will make the NCAA field as an at-large selection.
Shannon came up big again for Illinois one day after setting a Big Ten tournament record with 40 points in a victory over Nebraska.
Both Illinois and Wisconsin were hot from the floor in the second half. Illinois connected on 61.5 percent and the Badgers made 50 percent.
Klesmit buried a 3-pointer to give Wisconsin an 82-81 edge with 3:53 remaining. He later drained another trey to tie it at 85 with 1:57 left.
Shannon swished a 3-pointer 29 seconds later to put Illinois back ahead. Shannon then stole the ball from Storr, was fouled and hit both free throws to give the Illini a 90-85 lead with 1:02 to play.
Shannon split two free throws to make it a six-point margin with 50.2 seconds left and Illinois closed out the win.
Overall, the Illini shot 52.6 percent from the field, including 7 of 20 from 3-point range.
The Badgers connected on 46.9 percent of their attempts and were also 7 of 20 from behind the arc.
Wisconsin opened the second half with a 21-10 burst. Hepburn converted two three-point plays within 70 seconds as the Badgers held a 61-51 advantage with 14:38 remaining in the game.
Illinois responded with a 21-5 burst. The Illini caught Wisconsin at 65 on a dunk by Dain Dainja and moved ahead on Shannon’s layup with 10:25 remaining. Domask followed with a trey and later made two free throws to make it 72-66 with 8:38 left.
The Badgers received a 3-pointer by Klesmit and two free throws by Storr to knot the score at 77 with 5:42 remaining.
Shannon scored the final five points of the first half to give the Illini a 41-40 lead. He had 15 before the break.
Storr scored 16 in the half for Wisconsin.
–Field Level Media