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Illinois' Bezhanishvili, Dosunmu Earn Big Ten Awards

Fighting Illini freshman Giorgi Bezhanishvili (Rustavi, Georgia) was named Big Ten Player of the Week and fellow freshman Ayo Dosunmu (Chicago, Ill.) was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, the conference announced on Monday.

 

The freshman duo helped the Illini to a pair of wins last week, 79-74 over No. 9 Michigan State on Tuesday and 99-94 over Rutgers in overtime on Saturday. Overall, Illinois has won three straight games, its longest conference winning streak since 2017 and tied for the second-longest active streak in the league. The Illini are also 4-1 in their last five games. 

 

It marks the first time in Big Ten men's basketball history a school claimed both awards with two different freshmen. It's also the first time Illinois has swept both player and freshman accolades in the same week since the conference started the freshman award in 2010-11.

 

The last Illini to win B1G Player of the Week was Malcolm Hill on Nov. 24, 2016, while the last Illini B1G Freshman of the week was Trent Frazier on Feb. 12, 2018. Frazier was Freshman of the Week on two occasions last season. 

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