CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The highly-anticipated rematch between the Iowa and Illinois men’s basketball teams didn’t disappoint on Friday night.

Illinois defeated Iowa to end the regular season last year, and the two heated rivals split the two-game series a season ago. The meeting between the programs this season was a game to circle once the 2020-21 schedule was released.

The only regular season meeting between the two rival programs ended in an 80-75, Fighting Illini victory that went down to the final seconds at The State Farm center. No. 7 Iowa (12-4, 6-3) drops its second game in a row and No. 19 Illinois (11-5, 7-3)  earns the tiebreaker over the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten standings.

Neither team had played in over a week because of COVID-19 postponements. Iowa played its first game in eight days Friday night, while Illinois was coming off a 10-day layoff.

Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu scored the first of his 21 first-half points on the first possession of the game. Iowa center Luka Garza scored on a floater the next possession down the court, an early sign of the back-and-forth that would take place throughout the game. Dosunmu is second in the Big Ten in scoring, only behind Garza.

After not playing in the second half of Iowa’s previous game, guard C.J. Fredrick did not play Friday night because of a lower leg injury. Freshman Keegan Murray took Fredrick’s spot in the starting lineup, making his first start as a Hawkeye. At the 16:38 mark of the first half, Murray caught a pass in the paint from Garza, pump faked, and then scored his first points of the night.

For the game, Murray finished with eight points and eight rebounds while filling in for Fredrick.

At the first break of the game, Illinois led Iowa 14-13. A Garza basket out of the media timeout, followed by a Joe Wieskamp 3-pointer, put Iowa on top 18-14.

Iowa’s Connor McCaffery hit a 3-pointer and drew a foul with 12:30 remaining in the first half. He hit the free throw to convert the four-point play, giving him nine points in the first half, his season-high in scoring for any full game. The play pushed Iowa to a 24-20 lead. McCaffery finished the game with 11 points.

But Dosunmu kept scoring, even on contested looks near the basket, to keep Illinois close to even with Iowa. And at the end of the first half, the Fighting Illini pushed ahead.

With 7.2 seconds remaining in the first half, Illinois guard Trent Frazier hit a contested 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to put Illinois ahead, 43-41, heading into halftime. The officials missed an apparent travel on Illinois before the shot attempt.

Illinois opened the second half with two quick baskets to take a 48-41 lead. Then Garza scored Iowa’s first points of the half and the Hawkeyes settled in.

Garza picked up his third foul of the game only two minutes and 30 seconds into the second half, forcing him to the bench for the next seven minutes and 10 seconds. The Hawkeyes stayed in the game with their star on the bench for that extended time.

A Murray offensive rebound and layup off of a missed dunk by Iowa forward Jack Nunge moved Iowa into the lead for the first time in the second half. With 14:27 remaining in the game, Iowa led 52-50. But that lead didn’t last long. After a few-and-forth possessions between the teams, Dosunmu hit a 3-pointer to push Illinois back on top, 55-54.

The teams traded the lead throughout the rest of the game, and the score was within one possession for most of the last stretch of the game.

Illinois held on late, using a 3-pointer, followed by two free throws on the next possession, to go up by four at the two-minute mark. Iowa forced a five-second violation with 11 seconds remaining while down three points. But Iowa could not tie the game, as Jordan Bohannon’s 3-pointer was off the mark.

Illinois secured an offensive rebound off a missed free throw its next time down the court, and in the process secured its five-point victory.

Dosunmu led all scorers with 25 points for Illinois. Frazier added 24 points for the Fighting Illini.

Garza and Wieskamp both scored 19 points for Iowa.

The Hawkeyes return to the court on Tuesday in the team’s first matchup with Michigan State this season. The game’s start time has not been finalized, but it will be played at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and aired on FS1.