Hoosiers Stall in Second Half, Fall to #8 Illinois 71-51

CHAMPAIGN, IL.–The #8 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team used a dominant second half to defeat the Indiana Hoosiers at the State Farm Center Sunday afternoon 71-51.

Illinois made 42% of their shots in the second half while Indiana connected on only 33% of their shots, including 2 of 11 from three-point range in the second half. They outrebounded Indiana 38-25, including 15-4 on the offensive glass. That was part of the reason Illinois had 17 second chance points to just five from Indiana.

“I actually thought we had some really good possessions. Got some pretty clean looks by guys we want taking them and we didn’t make them. The problem was we couldn’t get enough stops to withstand it during that time and specifically the offensive rebounding on their end. It was really too much for us to overcome. So, we had to clean up the glass better so we could get our own transition opportunities and stuff. We had to play against a set defense so much of the time. So, that second half caught up to us,” said Indiana Hoosier Head Men’s Basketball Coach Darian DeVries.  

Indiana was led in scoring by Lamar Wilkerson with 21 points and Tucker DeVries who had 13. Sam Alexis finished with 11 points and eight rebounds for the Hoosiers.

David Mirkovic led all scorers for Illinois with 25 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Freshman Keaton Wagler put up 18 points for the Illini.

The next matchup for the Hoosiers is a rematch against the Purdue Boilermakers on Friday February 20. Tipoff is at 8 pm. Pregame coverage begins at 7 on 93.1 WIBC.