No. 12 Illinois stops Iowa men, 95-85, after trailing by 7 in 2nd half

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Two out of three might have looked pretty good for the Iowa men’s basketball team eight days ago, but it was bittersweet Saturday.

After leading 64-57 with 12:16 remaining and being tied at 75 with 5:55, the rest was all No. 12 Illinois at State Farm Center. The Illini defeated Iowa 95-85, a step back for the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten standings after wins over ranked Wisconsin at home and at Michigan State in the two preceding games.

So, the Hawkeyes are 8-9 in the conference, 16-12 overall, after their three-game crucible. They now need to build on recent improvement in their final three regular-season games to present themselves as viable to the NCAA tournament selection committee.

Illinois is well on its way to that event with an 11-5 league mark and 20-6 total ledger. Coleman Hawkins, a 6-foot-10 senior with a 3-point shot, had a career-high 30 points for the Illini. He was 9-of-11 from both the field and the foul line.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Illinois Coach Brad Underwood said after Illinois’ 1,000th Big Ten victory. “I thought Coleman was just fantastic today.”

“He was great,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “He’s been great.”

“He made a bunch of tough shots,” Iowa forward Payton Sandfort said, “and sometimes we just made it too easy for him.”

Hawkins scored 10 points in the final four minutes as the Illini pulled away after a fever-pitch contest that had 14 lead changes and 11 ties. Illinois led 44-43 at halftime despite Iowa shooting 62.1 percent. The Hawkeyes made just 35.2 percent of their shots after that.

The Hawkeyes took an early second-half lead and built it to 64-57 with 12:16 left.

“We had a lot of chances where we could have extended the lead,” Sandfort said, “but just missed some easy bunnies, didn’t get rebounds, just a lot of simple plays that we didn’t make.”

The game was tied with 5:55 remaining, then it was Illinois 20-10 the rest of the way.

Sophomore guard Josh Dix led Iowa with 20 points, the second-most he’s had in his career. Guard Tony Perkins had 18 points and eight rebounds.

The difference in 3-pointers was 18 points, in favor of the Illini. They made 10 of 27, Iowa 4 of 12. Which is the way the last seven games have gone for the Hawkeyes, as they’ve made just 30 3s in that span to their opponents’ 62.

Illinois won despite Terrence Shannon (22.1 points per game coming in) and Marcus Domask (15.5 ppg) being held to a combined 20.

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Freshman guard Nicollo Moretti of Bologna, Italy, played 17 minutes in the second half and played well, scoring a career-high nine points in his ninth career game and was significant defensively. He hadn’t scored since Jan. 18.

Underwood pulled his starters two minutes into the second half, and Moretti was one of the five subs who stabilized the Illini.

“I like this team a lot, and I use the word ‘team’ in all caps,” Underwood said. “Today was an unbelievable team victory. It was not easy. Iowa’s playing great.”

The Hawkeyes’ next game is at home Tuesday at 8 p.m. against Penn State (14-14, 8-9 Big Ten). The Nittany Lions will be coming off home wins over Illinois and Indiana.

After that, Iowa is at Northwestern, and gets a March 10 home rematch with Illinois. A sweep of that three-game set would be optimal, NCAA tournament-wise.

“We went 2-1 through a really tough stretch,” Sandfort said, “and it doesn’t get any easier.”

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