Point guard Boo Buie paced Northwestern (10-3,
1-1) with 20 points, but he finished with four turnovers and no
assists. Ty Berry added 14 points while Luke Hunger notched a
career-high 10 points.
Illinois played its second game without standout guard Terrence
Shannon Jr. -- who remains suspended indefinitely after being
charged with rape in Kansas from an incident that allegedly
occurred in September -- but the Illini did not miss their
leading scorer.
With seven players producing at least one basket, Illinois
scored on 10 of its first 11 possessions to seize leads of 7-0
and 22-12. Coleman Hawkins delivered a 3-pointer and a
conventional three-point play while Domask canned his first two
shots. Northwestern, meanwhile, missed nine consecutive shots
before Nick Martinelli converted a fourth-chance opportunity to
cut Illinois' lead to 26-16 with 9:51 to play.
The Wildcats got as close as 28-21 on Brooks Barnhizer's pair of
free throws, but the Illini reeled off 11 points in a row as
they put the ball in Domask's hands. The Southern Illinois grad
transfer would either drive for a short pullup or wait for a
post trap to find the open man for a layup or dunk. Domask added
a 3-pointer and a fadeaway down the stretch to give Illinois a
46-29 halftime lead.
Illinois shot 60 percent in the first half and came out just as
hot in the second half as Domask wriggled free for two short
shots, Ty Rodgers backed down a defender for a baseline
turnaround and Guerrier laid in a Domask miss. That spree pushed
the lead to 54-31 and forced Northwestern to call a timeout with
16:53 to go.
The game all but ended with 10:52 to go when Domask drew a
shooting foul on Buie. When an official added a technical to
Buie's tab for his fourth foul, that led to four Domask free
throws, a 73-42 Illinois lead and Buie taking a seat for the
rest of the night.
--Field Level Media
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.![](column_spacer.png) |
|