It’s been the story of the season so far for Northwestern.

The Wildcats put up a heck of a fight at Illinois on Saturday. They executed well, made several big plays and mounted a valiant late charge.

But once again, they came up short.

Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu hit two free throws with six seconds left to finally put Northwestern away, 75-71, and hand the Wildcats their seventh loss in their last eight games. Northwestern is now 1-6 in Big Ten play, with four losses coming by six points or fewer.

The Wildcats – playing on the road, where Big Ten teams are now a combined 6-39 on the season – played particularly well on the offensive end, where they scored more points than they have since putting up 78 against DePaul on Dec. 21, almost a month ago. They turned the ball over just five times, scored 28 points in the paint and had a 14-8 advantage in second-chance points.

And, unlike in previous games, Northwestern hit big shots down the stretch, as AJ Turner and Miller Kopp both hit 3-pointers in the final minute during the Wildcats' last-gasp rally.

But it was all for naught as Dosunmu hit a jumper and two clutch free throws in the final 18 seconds to put the game on ice.

Robbie Beran led Northwestern with a career-high 17 points, while Kopp finished with 16 and Pat Spencer 14.

Trent Frazier’s 16 points paced No. 24 Illinois, which won its fourth game in a row. Dosumnu added 15 points and a game-high six assists.

Here are our takeaways from a loss that dropped Northwestern’s record to 6-11 overall and 1-6 in Big Ten play:

The Cats hit big baskets in crunch time: Unlike in many of their previous narrow losses – and even in their lone Big Ten win against Nebraska – Northwestern executed well offensively down the stretch.

The Wildcats mounted a late 8-2 run capped by Turner’s 3 from the corner to close the gap to 71-68 with 44.8 seconds left. Dosunmu answered with a jumper from the top of the key with 18.1 seconds left. NU put one more scare into the Illini when Kopp drained another 3-pointer from almost the same spot as Turner to make it 73-71 with 7.7 seconds left. The Wildcats fouled Dosunmu on the inbounds play and his two free throws capped the scoring.

Northwestern finished the game shooting 45% from the floor and 42.1% (8 of 19) from beyond the arc.

Beran had a career game: Beran hit his career-high on a 3-pointer from the wing in the first minute of the second half. That’s the kind of day it was for Northwestern’s freshman forward.

WildcatReport just wrote about Beran on Friday, and the freshman followed it up with the best offensive performance of his career. He had averaged 9.0 points per game in is four previous games as a starter and hit that mark in the first half, when he and Miller Kopp scored 9 points apiece to lead NU into the locker room trailing 38-34. His PR-besting 3 from the wing gave him 12, and he immediately followed that up with another triple from the corner.

He also hit several shots inside, where he was not afraid to mix it up with Illinois’ towering front line of Kofi Cockburn and Giorgi Bezhanishvili.

In all, Beran hit 3-of-6 from long distance and had 17 points, five rebounds and an assist in 29 minutes.

Northwestern attacked the rim: Northwestern’s game plan, especially in the first half, was to go right at Cockburn, the 7-foot Illinois center. It paid off.

Spencer got into the lane repeatedly off the dribble and the Wildcats wound up with 16 of their 34 first-half points in the paint. Ryan Young held his own against Cockburn inside, notching 12 points and four rebounds, while the Illini big man finished with 12 and seven.

Cockburn, who ranks among the top 10 in the Big Ten in both scoring and rebounding, made just one field goal in the first half and finished with four in the game.

The Cats are better than their record indicates: The bottom line is that Northwestern resides in the Big Ten basement after winning just one of its seven conference games. But several young Wildcats are improving rapidly and, once Boo Buie comes back, they could play spoiler later in the season.

Beran had his career game against the Illini. Fellow true freshman Jared Jones had four points and three rebounds in 11 minutes. Redshirt freshman Ryan Young went 5-for-7 from the floor for 12 points, including a 3-pointer. The ultra-aggressive Spencer – who isn’t young as a grad transfer but is still learning the college game after four years of playing lacrosse – had a team-high five assists to go along with his 14 points.

The Wildcats are short-handed right now, but once they get Buie back in the lineup to give them another scoring option, this could be a dangerous team in February and March, let alone next season.