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However, with 2:50 left freshman phenom Aneesah Morrow fouled out, and the Irish went on to close out the nail-biter 91-86. Despite the loss, the Blue Demons showed they could hang with the upper echelon of the sport. If it weren’t for a COVID-19 outbreak at Connecticut, DePaul would have played a Paige Bueckers-less Huskies squad nine days later.

Bulls players Ayo Dosunmu, left, and DeMar DeRozan watch Illinois play Maryland on Thursday at the State Farm Center in Champaign. DeRozan was on hand to see the Illini retire Dosunmu’s jersey during halftime of the game, which Illinois won 76-64. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

Neither Toews nor Murphy would reveal the specifics of what players said, “but the gist of it was, there’s clearly times in these last two games where we’re playing really good hockey and then we just decide to take a few shifts off, give up momentum and take some tough penalties that we’re not killing off,” Toews said.

“K.J. Osborn has been a nice discovery for them in a disappointing season,” the scout said. “He started his career at the University of Buffalo and was a graduate transfer to Miami, where he played for one season. I liked his tape at Buffalo. That offense back then was spread heavy, lot of bubbles, lot of RPOs.

Jamarra Dosunmu, left, and Quam Dosunmu, parents of Bulls guard and former Illinois star Ayo Dosunmu has his jersey retired during halftime of a game against Maryland on Jan. 6, 2022, at the State Farm Center in Champaign. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

The Illini (11-3, 4-0 Big Ten) sprinted to a 21-7 lead with Cockburn scoring one-third of those points. His last basket of the first half put Illinois up 14 with 10:50 left before the break, but 16 seconds later he picked up his second foul and went to the bench.

At the United Center, it’s never a question when Dosunmu checks into a game. From the moment he lines up at the scorer’s table, the crowd begins a low, excited rumble. When the rookie jogs onto the court, he is greeted with one of the loudest cheers of the night.

“The young guys come out, they’re eager, they need to learn, they need to be taught. Here, they already know how to play, you just have to manage them, have conversations with them: What he sees, what I see, whether it’s Kane or even (Ryan) Carpenter or JJ (Jujhar Khaira) or whoever it is. The conversations are a little bit different.”

“I definitely feel for (Fields),” said offensive tackle Larry Borom, who was on the COVID-19 list last month. “It’s tough to be doing something one day, then all of the sudden, boom, you’re stuck in your house or a hotel or whatever it may be quarantining X-amount of days by yourself. It’s tough.”

“And he actually had this grin on his face where everyone’s, like, that’s really cool, but there’s something else that’s going to happen,” Alex Cohen, the director of broadcasting, told the Tribune. “Something like that you can never expect. But if anybody’s going to pull it off and do it the way that he did, it’d be Michael.”