By IlliniGuys Staff

January 26, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Ben Humrichous hit a trio of three pointers to cap off a 15-0 first half run as 17th ranked Illinois dominated in-state rival Northwestern, 83-74 Sunday afternoon at State Farm Center.

The spurt lifted the Illini to a 20-5 lead and they maintained a double-digit advantage until the Wildcats made a late game run to close to within eight points at 80-72 with 42 seconds remaining. Illinois (14-6, 6-4 in Big Ten) putting them away to end a two-game slide.

Morez Johnson Jr., making his second straight start in place of the idle Tomislav Ivisic, scored 15 points and added nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Illinois head coach Brad Underwood revealed on Saturday that his starting center was battling mono and would miss his second game due to the illness. According to Underwood, Ivisic is no longer contagious and IlliniGuys.com has learned he is possible to return in Illinois' next game at Nebraska on Thursday.

Illinois built a 43-21 halftime lead without Ivisic and with just one field goal from leading scorer Kasparas Jakucionis as Humrichous scored 11 of his 14 poitns in the first half.

Kylan Boswell finished with a team-high 17 points, six of those coming in the final three minutes to hold off a Northwestern rally.

Jakucionis turned in his third double-double effort of his career with 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with a game-high seven assists. Jake Davis scored 11 points off the bench as Illinois put five players in double figures.

The Illini pounded the visitors on the board, grabbing 50 rebounds to 27 for the Wildcats, who lost their ninth straight game in Champaign.

Jalen Leach and Nick Martinelli led Northwestern (12-8, 3-6) with 17 points each.

The Illini return to action Thursday night when they visit Nebraska. That's a 7:30pm CST tipoff on FS1.

Stay with IlliniGuys.com for complete postgame coverage.