No. 17 Illinois uses balanced scoring to coast past Northwestern

Kylan Boswell scored 17 points to lead five players in double figures as No. 17 Illinois rolled to an 83-74 Big Ten victory over Northwestern Sunday afternoon in Champaign, Ill.

Starting for 7-foot-1 Tomislav Ivisic, who missed his second straight game due to mononucleosis, freshman center Morez Johnson Jr. recorded 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks as the Fighting Illini (14-6, 6-4) built a 22-point halftime lead on their way to snapping their first two-game losing streak of the season.

Kasparas Jakucionis produced 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Ben Humrichous (14 points, four 3-pointers) and Jake Davis (11 points, three 3-pointers) also reached double figures.

Nick Martinelli, the Big Ten's leading scorer, paced Northwestern (12-8, 3-6) with 17 points, but needed 19 field-goal attempts to do it. Jalen Leach (7 of 15) added 17 points and four assists. Brooks Barnhizer, who entered the game averaging 18.5 points, finished with a season-low three points as Northwestern coach Chris Collins opted to rest the injury-plagued senior for the final 12 minutes.

Northwestern scored just five points in the opening 11 minutes as Illinois limited the Wildcats to 2-of-16 shooting while forcing three turnovers. But the Illini were slow to capitalize as they missed six of their first seven shots.

Then Illinois embarked on a 15-0 run to seize a 20-5 lead with 9:37 left in the first half. Tre White converted a layup and a 15-footer, Davis hit a fast-break layup and Humrichous canned a pair of 3-pointers to force Northwestern to take a timeout. Humrichous added an unguarded 25-footer after the timeout to make it 20-5.

When Jakucionis found White in transition for an uncontested dunk to cap a 12-3 run, Collins called another timeout with the Illini leading 32-11 with 4:56 to go.

Illinois carried a 43-21 advantage into the break as Northwestern's power duo was short-circuited. Martinelli managed just six points and Barnhizer had one as they combined to shoot 2 of 15 from the field.

Northwestern's marksmanship improved in the second half, but Illinois led by as much as 25. The Wildcats didn't got closer than 18 points until the final minutes. They got as close as 80-72 when K.J. Windham swiped an inbounds pass and laid the ball in with 42 seconds to go.

--Field Level Media