By IlliniGuys Staff

March 5, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

INDIANAPOLIS - Illinois' dynamic freshman duo is growing up in a hurry.

One night after Destiny Jackson scored a career high to help oust Wisconsin, Cearah Parchment led five Illini in double figures with 15 points as 10th seeded Illinois held off a furious Michigan State rally to get a 71-69 win Thursday night.

It's the first time that Illinois (21-10, 9-9 in Big Ten) has won back-to-back games at the Big Ten tournament since 2011. The win is their third in 10 tries against teams in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings this season.

Parchment, who joined Jackson on the Big Ten's All-Freshman Team earlier this week, scored all of her points in the first half, including draining three free throws in the final seconds to put the Illini on top 36-29 at the break.

The Spartans answered with a 9-0 run midway through the third quarter to take a 42-21 lead. But the Illini defense locked down to allow 18th ranked Michigan State (22-8, 11-7 in Big Ten) just two field goals over the next six and a half minutes to build a 57-48 lead.

The 7-seed rallied back, closing with two points on an Ines Sotelo layup with 32 seconds left. But that would be the game's final score.

Jackson finished with 14 points and joined Parchment with a team-leading six rebounds each. Maddie Webber scored 13 points, Jasmine Brown-Hagger finished with 12 and Berry Wallace chipped in 11.

Illinois now faces 9th ranked - and the tournament's number two seed - Iowa on Friday.  The Illini lost to the Hawkeyes 82-78 in Iowa City on February 26th. Tipoff is set for 5:30pm CT and the game can be seen on Big Ten Network.