Rutgers (15-10, 11-10) vs. No. 2 seed Illinois (20-6, 16-4)
Big Ten Tourney Quarterfinals, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis; Friday, 6:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Rutgers and Illinois are set to do battle in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament. The only regular season meeting came on Dec. 20, when Illinois made only 11 foul shots on 15 attempts while the Scarlet Knights went 25 for 36 en route to a 91-88 victory.
SQUAD LEADERS: The electric Ayo Dosunmu is putting up 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.8 assists to lead the charge for the Fighting Illini. Kofi Cockburn is also a big contributor, accounting for 17.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. The Scarlet Knights have been led by Ron Harper Jr., who is averaging 15.2 points and 6.1 rebounds.
FACILITATING THE OFFENSE: Jacob Young has made or assisted on 45 percent of all Rutgers field goals over the last three games. The senior guard has accounted for 19 field goals and 14 assists in those games.
ACCOUNTING FOR ASSISTS: The Scarlet Knights have recently gotten buckets via assists more often than the Illini. Illinois has an assist on 34 of 82 field goals (41.5 percent) across its previous three games while Rutgers has assists on 36 of 73 field goals (49.3 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Illinois is ranked second among Big Ten teams with an average of 80.7 points per game.
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