INDIANAPOLIS -- Illinois came to the Big Ten tournament with what coach John Groce calls a clean slate after finishing the regular season 13-18 overall and 5-13 in the conference.

The Fighting Illini appear to have taken that clean slate approach to heart, winning their first two tournament games and advancing to play No. 13 Purdue -- the No. 4 seed -- in Friday's second quarterfinal.

In Thursday's second round, Malcolm Hill's jumper with 1:14 remaining proved to be the game-winner, and No. 12 seed Illinois shocked No. 5 seed and 20th-ranked Iowa, 68-66.

"Defensively, we played ridiculously hard, and our 20 assists on offense shows just how unselfishly this team is playing," Groce said.

The Fighting Illini (15-18) squandered an 11-point lead with 3:30 remaining, but after Iowa (21-10) tied it at 66 on Nicholas Baer's three-point play with 1:40 to go, Illinois found a way to survive.

Hill, who scored only six points and made only 2 of 9 field goal attempts, hit the difference-making shot from the top of the key. Iowa had two more opportunities but turned the ball over with 2.8 seconds to play, and Illinois held on.

Illinois beat quarterfinal foe Purdue 84-70 in their only regular-season meeting.

Jalen Coleman-Lands led Illinois with 17 points, Kendrick Nunn added 16 and Maverick Morgan scored 14 against Iowa. Illinois has made 24 3-pointers in its first two tourney victories.

"The big reason we have made all those 3s is that we are sharing the ball as well as we have all season," Nunn said.

Peter Jok, who fouled out on a technical with 4:02 left, led Iowa with 29 points, and forward Jarrod Uthoff added 21. Their teammates combined for only 16.

"Our offense didn't move the ball in the first half," said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, whose team has lost five of its last six. "Recently, we have not made shots, and we have turned the ball over. I am proud of the way we fought back after being down 11, but then we missed more shots. Give Hill credit, he made a tough shot with Uthoff right in his face."

A Nunn 3-pointer with 10:45 remaining - Illinois' sixth of the half - gave the Fighting Illini a 61-50 lead, and the Illini led 66-55 on a Coleman-Lands trey with 3:30 to go before Iowa fought back.

"We are starting to show now what we have learned all season," Coleman-Lands said. "We know we have that clean slate."

Getting 12 points from Morgan, Illinois made 14 of 27 field goal attempts (51.9) and led 37-35 through the first 20 minutes, when the score was tied four times and the lead changed hands five times.

Jok (17) and Uthoff (13) combined for 30 first-half Iowa points, but the Hawkeyes shot only 42.4 percent (14 of 33). Iowa outrebounded Illinois 18-14 in the first half.

NOTES: Illinois advance to Thursday's second round with an 85-52 opening-round victory against No. 13 seed Minnesota, the most lopsided victory in Big Ten tournament history. ... Reserve F Michael Finke led the Illini in that game with 17. ... Illinois won the Big Ten tournament in 2005. ... Iowa's Jarrod Uthoff (18.8) and Peter Jok (15.8) are the second-highest scoring duo for the Hawkeyes in the past 40 years. ... Iowa has won at least 20 games for the fourth consecutive season, the first time that has happened since 1996-99. ... Iowa won the Big Ten tournament in 2001 and in 2006.