Terrence Shannon Jr. leads Illinois to Big Ten Tournament Championship over Wisconsin

Illinois and Wisconsin battled down to the wire, but it would ultimately be the Fighting Illini that claimed the Big Ten Championship. Terrence Shannon Jr. ultimately took over down the stretch to lead Illinois to the 93-87 win, finishing with 34 points.

With the game tied a 85 and 1:29 to go, Shannon nailed a 3-pointer that put the Fighting Illini up for good. He later came up with a steal on the ensuing possession and was fouled, making both free throws to extend the lead to five. Illinois never trailed from that moment on as it closed things out.

Shannon wasn’t the only player to come up big in the win, as Marcus Domask also finished with 26 points and eight rebounds. Illinois shot 52.6% in the game and had 14 assists compared to only nine turnovers.

This was a game that was tightly contested from the start, with both teams trading leads in the early minutes. Shannon finished the first half with 15 points as Illinois took a narrow 41-40 lead into halftime. AJ Storr led the Badgers with 16 points in the half.

Wisconsin opened opened up the second half on a run to claim a 10-point lead with 14:16 to go. Illinois responded with a 10-2 run of its own to cut down the deficit to double digits. The Fighting Illini took a 67-65 lead when Shannon made a layup with 10:28 remaining.

Brad Underwood on the Big Ten Championship

Illinois is the champion of the Big Ten Tournament after their 93-87 victory over Wisconsin on Sunday. It came off the backs of a tremendous effort from two of their stars who led a great team for the Fighting Illini.

Brad Underwood spoke about his team’s win in Minneapolis during his postgame conversation with CBS’ Tracy Wolfson. He said that their focus was to get the ball to Terrence Shannon Jr. and Marcus Domask and, since the two combined for 60 points, they clearly did a great job of it.

“That duo has carried us all year. We talked at halftime that we have to ride those two,” said Underwood. “We had to get them more shots, we had to get them more opportunities. Those two guys were elite. They do what they do and then we made enough stops when we had to.”

“My hats off to that Wisconsin team. They were terrific,” Underwood said.