By IlliniGuys Staff

February 25, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Tomislav Ivisic scored 15 of his game-high 22 points and the Illinois defense turned in its best effort in more than a month in handcuffing visiting Iowa 81-61 Tuesday night.

The 61 points was a season-low for the Hawkeyes and it was the first time the Illini held an opponent to under 70 points since scoring a 94-69 rout at Indiana on January 11th.

Ivisic, who has battled mononucleosis, the flu, and a severe ankle injury over the past five-plus weeks, was brilliant throughout, hitting 9-of-13 from the field while passing out five assists and pulling down four rebounds.

"In the locker room, he said he felt so much better", said guard Kylan Boswell of the 7-foot-1 sophomore on the postgame radio show. "He has an amazing impact on our team and tonight you could see it."

Illinois (18-11, 10-8 in Big Ten), looking to get rid of the bad taste of Saturday night's historic 110-67 loss to Duke in New York, shook up the starting lineup, with freshman Will Riley replacing Ben Humrichous. The 19-year old responded with 15 points and seven rebounds in a career-high 36 minutes.

Humrichous was limited to a season-low 14 minutes, but hit both three-point attempts and made the hustle plays with three rebounds and three steals.

Three-point shooting has been a painful subject for the Illini, especially after a 2-of-26 showing in New York. But Illinois connected on 9-of-31 from outside Tuesday night to improve to 15-2 this season when hitting at least 28 percent from the arc.

"I can't tell you how good these guys were the past two days", said Illini head coach Brad Underwood on the postgame radio show. "No hanging their heads and we threw a lot at them. It was probably the best two days of practice we've had in a while."

"We felt a certain way after Madison Square", said Boswell. "Coach tells us to just go 1-0 each and every night."

Boswell finished with 15 points and seven assists while Tre White scored 14.

But it was the Illinois defense that was the most impressive, holding an Iowa team that scores 83 points per game to 22 points below their average. The Hawkeyes (15-13, 6-11) shot just 42 percent from the field and committed a season-high tying 16 turnovers. Iowa hit just 6-of-18 from three-point range, their second-lowest number of baskets from outside the arc this season.

Illinois returns to action Sunday when they visit Big Ten co-leading Michigan on Sunday.  That's a 2:45pm CST tipoff and it can be seen on CBS.

Stay with IlliniGuys.com for complete postgame coverage.