IU basketball: Indiana 51 Illinois 71 — Three keys, highlights, final stats

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Indiana lost to Illinois Sunday afternoon at State Farm Center by a final score of 71-51.

The three keys to the game, highlights and final stats are below.

Illinois led 38-31 at halftime. The Hoosiers were led in the game by Lamar Wilkerson with 21 points.

For Darian DeVries and Sam Alexis postgame, GO HERE.

Indiana (17-9, 8-7) returns to action Friday evening at Purdue.

THREE KEYS TO THE GAME

1. Bad second half start. Illinois scored the first five points of the second half, and outscored the Hoosiers 16-5 over the first 7:27 coming out of halftime. That ballooned a seven-point halftime margin to 18 and left IU with tall mountain to climb on the road against a top-10 team. IU started the second half by making just 1 of 9 shots. And after committing just two first half turnovers, IU gave it away seven times after the break.

2. Three-point shots don’t fall. One of the Indiana’s strengths wasn’t on point in Champaign. The Hoosiers made just 6 of 24 (25%) shots from beyond the arc. Nick Dorn and Conor Enright combined to go 0 of 6. IU made just 2 of 11 from three in the second half, as Lamar Wilkerson went 0 of 3 after the break. Indiana’s six makes from three is tied for its fourth-lowest production on the season, and the 24 attempts is tied for the second-lowest.

3. Illini control the offensive glass. Illinois had a significant size advantage on Sunday afternoon, and they took advantage on the offensive glass. The Illini grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and scored 17 second chance points. Illinois was plus-13 overall on rebounding margin, 38-25. Illinois shot just 43.9% overall including 22.6% from three. Those are rates good enough for the Hoosiers to sneak out of Illinois with a win. But Indiana switched a lot on defense, which contributed to mismatches when it came time to rebound those Illinois misses.

HIGHLIGHTS