Iowa 68, Illinois 60: Aaron White scored 20 of his career-high 29 points in the second half as the host Hawkeyes downed the Fighting Illini.
Jarrod Uthoff added six points and a game-high 10 rebounds for Iowa (18-10, 9-6 Big Ten), which notched its third straight win. The Hawkeyes, who also received eight points from Gabriel Olaseni and six apiece from Peter Jok, Josh Oglesby and Anthony Clemmons, hit 6-of-14 3-pointers and finished with a 20-15 edge at the free-throw line.
Rayvonte Rice had 20 points and nine rebounds to pace Illinois (17-11, 7-8), which suffered its third straight setback since opening the month with a four-game win streak. Ahmad Starks, who started for point guard Jaylon Tate (illness), added a season high-matching 19 points – including five 3-pointers – for the Illini, which shot 33.3 percent from the field but hit 15-of-16 free throws.
Iowa, which took a 33-32 lead into the second half, fell behind 36-35 before White scored the Hawkeyes’ next 14 points as part of a 23-12 run over the ensuing 11 minutes, allowing them to take their first double-digit lead at 58-48 with 6:24 remaining. Illinois was able to get within 63-58 on two Nnanna Egwu free throws with 1:17 left, but the Hawkeyes went 5-of-6 at the line from there to close out the win.
Iowa grabbed an early 22-15 lead, but Starks drained a pair of treys to fuel a 15-4 Illinois run, giving the visitors a 30-26 edge with 3:25 to play in the opening half. Then it was the Hawkeyes’ turn to heat up as they closed the half with a 7-2 mini-run to take the one-point advantage into the break.
GAME NOTEBOOK: White now has 1,726 career points, surpassing B.J. Armstrong (1,705) to move into fourth place on Iowa’s all-time list. … Tate had started the last 12 games and was averaging 3.9 points and 3.2 assists in 20.7 minutes, but did not play. … The Hawkeyes improved to 17-1 when scoring 64 or more points.
Illinois | Iowa | |
Rayvonte Rice 20 | Scoring | Aaron White 29 |
Kendrick Nunn 3 | Assists | Anthony Clemmons 4 |
Rayvonte Rice 9 | Rebounds | Jarrod Uthoff 10 |
Rayvonte Rice 9 | Free Throws Made | Aaron White 10 |
Nnanna Egwu 3 | Steals | Mike Gesell 2 |
Nnanna Egwu 1 | Blocks | Jarrod Uthoff 4 |