Kasparas Jakucionis made a tiebreaking layup with 32 seconds left, and No. 22 Illinois survived a furious comeback bid by Washington to squeak out an 81-77 victory Sunday at Alaska Airlines arena.

Yet it should have been encouraging in equal measure that Illinois was able to withstand a bullish run from Washington (10-5, 1-3) and deliver in other areas to avoid a letdown after its upset of Oregon in Eugene days before.

Kasparas Jakucionis made a tiebreaking layup with 32 seconds left, and No. 22 Illinois survived a furious comeback bid by Washington to squeak out an 81-77 victory.

Just around the time No. 22 Illinois might have begun believing it had everything figured out, an unranked and unheralded opponent welcomed the Illini into their home and showed them just how much more there was to learn.

It was the same story on a different day for coach Danny Sprinkle and the Washington Huskies, who fell 81-77 to the No. 22 Illinois Fighting Illini inside Alaska Airlines Arena on Sunday afternoon. For the first 10 minutes of the contest,