Illinois Basketball: Illini fall short as win streak against Iowa is snapped

The Illinois basketball team saw their three-game winning streak snapped emphatically at the hands of the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

In a game that lived up to the hype on and off the court, which included a scuffle between the student sections over a ticketing controversy, the Hawkeyes exacted revenge against an Illini team near the top of the conference and riding high on a three-game winning streak.

The loss marked the Illini’s first slip-up against the Hawkeyes since February 2020, as the Orange and Blue had won the last five series meetings between their Big Ten neighborhood rivals. Illinois now sits at 16-7 with a 7-5 league record, while Iowa improved to 15-8 overall and 7-5 in the Big Ten.

Both teams are in a four-way tie with Indiana and Maryland for third place in the Big Ten. Northwestern could join Iowa, Indiana, Maryland, and Illinois on Sunday with a win over Wisconsin.

The Illini played exceptionally well, as did Iowa. Both teams traded baskets throughout the first half and saw Illinois, winners of seven of eight entering the contest, snag the lead 36-35 heading into halftime. A huge reason why Illinois played well was due to big games from its superstars, including another double-digit performance from Matthew Mayer with 21 points.

Although Iowa was a measly 2-for-10 from three-point range in the second half, the Illini failed to stop Tony Perkins from taking over the game, as his standout performance saw him finish with 32 points. His counter equivalent, Coleman Hawkins, went without a basket in 35 minutes of game time.

Illinois failed to tie the game or go ahead in crunch time, as shot attempts from Hawkins and Jayden Epps couldn’t find the bottom of the rim. Epps would finish with 16 points, of which 14 points came in the second half.

With a little over a minute left in regulation, Payton Sandfort delivered a three-pointer to give the Hawkeyes the lead for good, as the Illini fell to Iowa, 81-79.

The Illini will have to put the loss behind them rather quickly, as Brad Underwood acknowledged how well both teams played and how a few ball bounces made the difference between victory and defeat. Saturday didn’t provide those so-called “lucky breaks.”

"“Really good college basketball game, two teams that played awfully hard and fought awfully hard,” Underwood said. “My hats off to them, they made a few plays and obviously a lot of free throws.”"

The Illinois basketball team has eight games to go. What does this mean?

While a loss dropped the Illini into a third-place logjam, they still control their NCAA Tournament destiny. They can still secure a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament with eight regular season games remaining, as they need to finish in the top four of the standings to do so.

Next is Illinois’s rematch with the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Tuesday night at the State Farm Center. The Illini won the first matchup at Williams Arena, 78-60, as Mayer led all scorers with 19 points in the road win. Meanwhile, the Gophers are in last place and are still searching for conference win number two.

Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on Big Ten Network.