3 Takeaways From Northwestern's 79-68 Loss to Illinois

The Northwestern Wildcats remain winless in Big Ten play after a disappointing 79-68 home defeat to the Fighting Illini on Wednesday.

Northwestern sixth man Jayden Reid enjoyed a career night, although he was effectively neutralized by two-time (so far) Big Ten Freshman of the Week guard Keaton Wagler's proficient second half. To their credit, the Wildcats basically held serve in a fairly close opening half (a 10-2 Illinois run to close out the half put the Fighting Illini up by five points, 38-33, at the break). Northwestern was then badly outplayed in the second. Northwestern, starting two freshmen (forward Tre Singleton and guard Jake West) for the first time in a game since 2016, ran out of steam.

All told, the Fighting Illini led by as many as 15 points and were ahead for 82 percent of the contest. Northwestern even enjoyed some home cooking when it came to its looks at the charity stripe, going 15-of-17 from the foul line compared to an 8-of-8 line for Illinois — but it didn't really help.

Northwestern dropped its fourth straight game, falling to an 8-9 record for 2025-26 (0-6 in the Big Ten). Illinois, the No. 13-ranked team in the nation, helped burnish its early legend. The Illini, meanwhile, improved to a 14-3 record on the year (5-1 in the conference).

Illinois is now off to its first 4-0 road start since that fateful 2004-05 when the Deron Williams-led Illini went all the way to the National Championship game, ultimately falling to Raymond Felton's North Carolina Tarheels.

Here are our three takeaways from this latest setback.

Size Does Matter

The biggest team in the Big Ten enjoyed a massive size advantage over Northwestern — although the Illini's bigs wound up pouring in buckets from everywhere.

Starting center Tomislav Ivisic had struggled for much of his junior year. His usage has declined a bit. Northwestern, unthreatened by him in the interior, was more than comfortable switching defensively against him. Instead, he burned them with triples.

Need insurance? Call 1-800-TOMI pic.twitter.com/WdJ6BtCuZY
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 15, 2026

Ultimately, Ivisic notched a career-high 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor (4-of-10 from distance) and 1-of-1 free throw shooting. He also pulled down seven boards. His 7-foot-2 brother Zvonimir, a reserve, blocked two shots.

All told, Illinois outscored Northwestern 34-18 in the paint. The Illini also logged a minimal 33-30 advantage in rebounds.

Collins was certainly aware of the size threat Illinois posed, and even acknowledged postgame that factored into his decision to make a starting lineup change.

Keaton Wagler Couldn't Be Stopped

The 6-foot-6 swingman poured in 20 of his 22 total points in the contest's second half — as did 5-foot-10 backup Northwestern point guard Jayden Reid.

Wagler was a weapon everywhere, getting it done through drives, midrange floaters and even stepback, heat-check treys.

A tough 2 looks easy when it's Keaton Wagler.

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/syjQE3L4Oh
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 15, 2026

The game tightened up in the second half, thanks to a 10-0 run keyed mostly by Reid, who scored eight of those points and dished out a dime to a waiting Arrinten Page beneath the bucket. But that didn't dissuade Wagler, who remained fairly cool under pressure.

Illinois coach Brad Underwood revealed postgame that Wagler had been hampered by back spasms pregame and potentially in the bout's first half.

Although Kylan Boswell and Tomislav Ivisic were expected to be the marquee names for Illinois this season, Wagler is quickly becoming its best player.

Boswell made all the big plays in the first half, helped them get the lead, then effectively handed the keys to Wagler in the second. Boswell finished with 13 points and three dimes. Ivisic enjoyed a big night, thanks mostly to a defensive vote of no confidence from Chris Collins' Wildcats.

Reid's Career Night

With Boswell putting the clamps on NU leading scorer Nick Martinelli a bit (he still notched 20 points on 5-of-12 shooting), the Wildcats needed every one of backup point guard Jayden Reid's career-most 28 points (on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor and 6-of-7 free throw shooting) to even keep things pseudo-close.

8-0 RUN FOR REID 💨

He's got 2️⃣2️⃣

📺 @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/LoeoPWLcIF
— Northwestern Basketball (@NUMensBball) January 15, 2026

Collins leaned heavily — let's be real, too heavily — on Reid, as the undersized Wildcats' offense began breaking down in the second half. But the kid was on a heater. He also chipped in three rebounds, one assist and two picks.

Reid's slight frame and size could limit his impact as a pro, but he was nothing if not fearless on this night.

This year, Reid has been fairly trick-or-treat, scoring in single digits for three of his last four outings, including a one-point performance in a stinker against the Howard Bison.

His marksmanship this year has been wanting. Reid is currently connecting on just a .393/.313/.843 slash line.

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