At Bloomington, Ind., Trent Frazier scored 23 points and Kofi Cockburn added 17 points and eight rebounds, lifting No. 18 Illinois to a 74-57 win over Indiana.
Alfonso Plummer scored 14 points for Illinois (17-5, 10-2 Big Ten), which maintained its hold on first place in the Big Ten with a big second half. Down 36-34 at halftime, Illinois shot 53.8 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from 3-point range (6-for-13) in the final 20 minutes.
Race Thompson led Indiana (16-6, 7-5 Big Ten) with 13 points, with Xavier Johnson adding 12 points and five assists. Cockburn got the better of his inside matchup with Indiana leading scorer Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was held to six points on 3 of 9 shooting.
Down 46-42 in the second half, Illinois took control of the game with a game-altering 16-3 run. The Illini went ahead to stay, 48-46, on a Jacob Grandison 3-pointer. After a Johnson 3-pointer cut the Illinois lead to 52-49, Illinois scored six straight points on a three-point play from Cockburn and a Frazier 3-pointer, going up 58-49 with 7:45 left.
Johnson scored nine points in the first half, helping Indiana take a 36-34 lead into halftime. Indiana overcame early foul trouble from Jackson-Davis, who picked up his second foul at the 15:44 mark of the first half.
With Jackson-Davis out of the lineup, Indiana was able to build an early eight-point lead, going up 19-11 on a 3-pointer by Parker Stewart. But Illinois rallied back, tying the score twice in the first half, at 26-26 and at 28-28 on a jumper by Frazier.
Johnson then scored five straight points for Indiana, putting the Hoosiers up 34-31 by following up his own miss with a putback layup with 1:28 left in the half. Plummer was then fouled on a 3-point attempt for Illinois, making three free throws to tie the score at 34. But Johnson then found Thompson for an inside basket with 47 seconds left to put Indiana up 36-34, a lead the Hoosiers took into halftime.
Indiana shot 41.4 percent from the field in the first half, while Illinois shot 40.9 percent. The Hoosiers ganged up inside to contain Cockburn, who was held to five points on 2 of 7 shooting.
–Field Level Media