Illinois head coach Shauna Green is now 8-0 against her former boss and put a 27-point blowout win on Joe McKeown in one of his final games inside Welsh-Ryan Arena.

February 22, 2026

Illinois assistant coach DeAntoine Beasley (L) and head coach Shauna Green share a pregame laugh with legendary Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown in Evanston on Sunday. (courtesy Illinois Athletics)

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

If this was the last time she faced her old boss on the opposite bench, Shauna Green can leave Welsh-Ryan Arena knowing she impressed Joe McKeown.

A month ago, Illinois escaped with a 74-71 win over Northwestern but the return game Sunday afternoon in Evanston had the looking of a blowout from the start that concluded with a 92-65 win for the Illini.

Illinois (19-8, 9-7 in Big Ten Conference) scored the first seven points of the contest and rolled to a 57-33 halftime lead in a contest where the visitor was never in doubt. This game was the second-to-last home game for Northwestern (8-19, 2-14) in a season where McKeown has announced this season will be his last after a 18-year tenure in Evanston and 40th season overall as a head coach. Green spent the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach on McKeown’s staff, her last season before returning to Dayton to take the head coaching job. The Illini head coach is now 8-0 vs. Northwestern since she’s taken the job in Champaign-Urbana and left Evanston with a 27-point win over her former boss.

Illinois had five players posting double-figure scoring totals including a season-high 18 points from Jasmine Brown-Hagger as the third-year guard had six rebounds in a 29-minute effort. Brown-Hagger has only finished in double figures four times this season but on Sunday afternoon the Shorewood, Ill. native was 6 of 11 from the field and 5 of 7 from the free throw line.

Wildcats forward Grace Sullivan, one of the top scorers in the nation at 21.9 points per game on the 2025-26 campaign at 54.1 percent shooting from the field while adding an average 6.5 boards, was held scoreless in the opening quarter and finished with just 13 points after 15 field goal attempts.
Illini freshman guard Destiny Jackson, who is the only Power Four Conference freshman across NCAA Division I programs averaging at least nine points, 3.5 rebounds, and five assists, had a career-high 19 points to go with seven assists, seven rebounds and two steals. The Chicago native scored eight points in the first quarter to go along with three assists and a pair of steals.

Illinois freshman center Cearah Parchment recorded her 11th double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, which now ranks as third-most among all NCAA first-year players and leads all Big Ten freshmen. Additionally, 11 double-doubles is the most among Illinois freshmen since at least 2019-20. Kennedi Myles (2019-20) most recently recorded eight double-doubles as a rookie.

Northwestern got 25 points from sophomore center Tayla Thomas including two three-pointers and 16 points in the first half.

Illinois connected on 12 of 18 attempts from beyond the three-point arc, which is the most for the Illini this season and just the fifth game this season where they’ve made a double-digit amount of triples in a contest.

With Illinois’ win and Washington’s one-point home loss to Nebraska today, Illinois has a one-game lead (with the head-to-head tiebreaker) over the Huskies for the No. 9 spot in the Big Ten Conference standings. The significance with getting in the top 9 is the spots 10-15 in the league tournament in Indianapolis are forced to play on Wednesday night leaving them to need five wins in five days to take the tournament title.

Illinois next travels to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to play No. 13 Iowa (22-5, 13-3) on Thursday (8 p.m., BTN). The Hawkeyes have won four games in a row, including a 63-44 win against No. 6 Michigan on Sunday. Illinois has won two of the last three games against Iowa, but hasn't won in Iowa City since 2007.