No. 19 Iowa men’s basketball misses comeback against No. 16 Illinois, drops second-straight game

IOWA CITY — In one of the more anticipated Iowa-Illinois matchups in recent history, Illinois silenced the excitement once in the first 10 minutes of action, and again final seconds.

No. 19 Iowa men’s basketball (12-4, 2-3 Big Ten) suffered its first back-to-back loss of the season against No. 16 Illinois (13-3, 4-1 Big Ten), 75-69. It’s also the first home loss Iowa has suffered this year.

Forward Tavion Banks was listed as questionable in Iowa’s availability report, released three hours before tip-off. He stepped onto the court against the Fighting Illini, but not in the starting lineup. Iowa head coach Ben McCollum revealed that Banks has been battling sickness the last few days, but pushed through for the game.

Instead, center Alvaro Folgeuiras made his first start as a Hawkeye, adding a bit more height to Iowa’s lineup.

It was needed. The Hawkeyes were facing the tallest Division I basketball team in the country by average height, and Illinois was not making things easy for Iowa.

“We didn’t execute the scout,” Cooper Koch said, “on offense or defense, and they punished us early for that.”

For the second consecutive game, the Hawkeyes fell behind early and faced a double-digit deficit at halftime. Illinois cruised through Iowa’s new-look lineup, shooting at least 50-percent from the floor the entire game.

Folgeuiras was the only Iowa player to record more than four rebounds. He ended the game with eight points and seven rebounds in 34 minutes of game time.

Even as Iowa started chipping away an Illinois 18-point lead, it wasn’t as simple as stringing together a scoring run like the Illini had.

They had an answer for every morsel of momentum the Hawkeyes could find. Three-straight triples in the first half? Illinois brought it back to a double-digit halftime lead. Hawkeyes make five of six baskets to make it a nine-point game? Illinois strung together an 8-0 run.

“It’s what we’ve done all year,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said. “I think that’s one of the things we can do, is put you in some harm’s way with that.”

Illinois was powered by guard Keaton Wagler who led all players with 19 points, while guards Kylan Boswell and Andrej Stojakovic both added 17 points.

Banks scored a team-high 16 points off the bench, with seven rebounds and five assists in 24 minutes.

Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz picked up his fourth foul with more than half of the second half to play. Despite being the only Hawkeye in double figures at that point, he was forced to sit through Iowa’s claw back to an 8-point game in the final eight minutes of game time. Stirtz finished the game with 12 points and six assists.

Koch, who’d been struggling to reach double figures over the last few games, scored 10 points for the first time since facing Maryland on Dec. 6.

Iowa cut it as close to a five-point game, but again, Illinois got that extra rebound, made the basket in response.

Banks and freshman guard Tate Sage helped develop some offensive rhythm while Stirtz sat on the bench, and both players finished the game in double figures as well.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get it done for them,” Stirtz said about Iowa closing the gap after his fourth foul. “But it’s a long road ahead. We’ve got time to figure it out.”

Stirtz had a chance to make it a one-score game in crunch time, driving down the baseline for a layup that rolled right into the hands of Boswell.

For the second-straight game, a comeback falls short.

And they’ll travel to Indiana for road games against Purdue and the Hoosiers next week.

“You need to win these,” McCollum said. “It’s time to win this kind of game. We’ve proven that we can, but we haven’t proven that we actually will, and it’s time to do that.”

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