Illinois Basketball Outhustles Northwestern to End Losing Skid

After No. 17 Illinois was utterly manhandled by an unranked Maryland team at home Thursday, Illini coach Brad Underwood sent a message – both direct and indirect – to his entire club about the missing ingredients:

Better effort. More attention to detail.

Sunday's meeting with Northwestern at the State Farm Center in Champaign was Illinois' first opportunity since to respond – another game without center Tomislav Ivisic (mono) and something of a tester against a physical Wildcats crew that nipped the Illini in overtime in Evanston back in December. Did the Illini pick up what Underwood was putting down?

Message received.

The Illini followed their worst rebounding and defensive performance of the season with one of their best – for at least one half – by relentlessly crashing the boards, streaking for every loose ball and working with, rather than around, one another in an 83-74 win over the Wildcats.

ON HIM.

2H 14:33 | Illini 54, Northwestern 34
📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/RTmVf2R5bI
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 26, 2025

Illinois (14-6, 6-4 Big Ten) outrebounded Northwestern (12-8, 3-6) by an astounding 50-27 margin (including 21 offensive rebounds) and bottled up Nick Martinelli and Brooks Barnhizer – the Big Ten's No. 1 and No. 5 scorers – to put the game all but out of reach by halftime.

Well, one would have thought so. Whether or not the Illini let off the gas a touch, the Wildcats' offense came alive in the second half, with Martinelli perking up (11 second-half points) and Jalen Leach scoring 15 of his 17 points after the break. In what may have felt like garbage time, NU chipped away at the Illinois lead and, inside the final minute, got a steal and a layup from K.J. Windham to trim the deficit to 10.

That might have been the end of the threat, but off the ensuing possession, Will Riley inexplicably tossed the inbounds pass directly into the hands of Windham, who, standing under the rim, flipped it in to shave the Illini lead to 80-72. When the Wildcats immediately went into foul mode, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn missed two free throws to give NU daylight.

But Illinois' energy on the boards never flagged for a moment over the 40 minutes, and Morez Johnson Jr. kept a ball alive off the second Gibbs-Lawhorn miss that went back to the Illini. When Kylan Boswell was fouled and made two free throws, then came back down to hit another after a Wildcats score, the crisis had been averted.

The Illini had the wiggle room after a monstrous first half in which they held Martinelli and Barnhizer to a combined seven points and raced to a 43-21 lead on the strength of their offensive rebounding and defense. NU's 21 points tied for the fewest in a half in Big Ten play this season.

For that, Johnson deserves a lion's share of the credit. The 6-foot-9, 255-pound freshman, filling in for Ivisic at center, checked Martinelli, a guard, and gave him the straight-jacket treatment. Johnson was the driving force in Illinois holding Northwestern to 8-for-31 (25.8 percent) field-goal shooting in the first half. He finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

Boswell led the Illini with 17 points (plus six rebounds and four assists), while Ben Humrichous contributed 14 points on 4-for-9 three-point shooting. Jake Davis came off the bench to chip in 11 points (3-for-6 on threes), and Kasparas Jakucionis had 11 points, a game-high 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Illinois Basketball Outhustles Northwestern to End Losing Skid

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