Hawkeyes roll over Illinois at State Farm Center

The fifth ranked Iowa Hawkeyes came to town having won eight of their past nine games by double digits and looked like a juggernaut in the Big Ten. They did not disappoint in the State Farm Center, taking an early lead and rolling to a 77-65 win over Illinois.

Jarrod Uthoff had 18 and 12, while Peter Jok added 23 and Adam Woodbury posted a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Illinois got 17 points from Jalen Coleman-Lands and 14 from Malcom Hill as they fell to 11-13 and 3-8 in the Big Ten. Iowa moves to 19-4 and 10-1 in the B1G.

The Illini actually got off to a 3-0 lead and led 6-4 on a pair of Coleman-Lands 3’s before Iowa took the lead for good on a Peter Jok jumper with 16:38 to play in the first half. Iowa would keep stretching it out, leading by as many as 13 points before Illinois cut it to nine on a Kendrick Nunn jumper at the end of the half.

Starting the second stanza, Coleman-Lands hit a 3 to start the half and cut the lead to 6, but Iowa would methodically open up a 20 point lead with 11:24 to go and take away any doubt about the winner. For three minutes both teams went ice cold, missing shots and committing turnovers to keep it at 20 with just over eight minutes to play. The Illini got within 10 points with two minutes to play, but that is as close as they would get and the Hawkeyes got another double digit win.

Illinois now has a week off before heading to Evanston to take on Northwestern in an in-state grudge match Saturday night. With a team beset with injuries and needing a day off to heal, rest and recuperate, they expect to take Monday and Tuesday off before getting back at it on Wednesday. With just 7 league games left Illinois is hoping to gain momentum heading into the Big Ten tourney and the off season.

1. Nunn struggling – Kendrick Nunn hit 2-13 from the floor, meaning he is now 5-26 in the past two games and 2-15 from 3. As the second leading scorer, Nunn has to be more consistent and find other ways to score when his shot isn’t falling. He is letting affect his defense and rebounding as well right now and sometimes just seems to chuck it up with no idea of when to take a good shot or what is a good shot. Illinois can’t beat good teams without both Hill and Nunn being at least solid.

2. Converting opportunities – Somehow, Iowa grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and scored 26 points off of those misses. That’s epic as a conversion rate. That means they would have to make shots on all 12 misses and get 2 3-pointers in that mix. The highest number previously was Rutgers with 20 and Providence with 18, but they did it on 17 and 16 offensive rebounds, respectively. Usually the conversion rate is a little bit over one point per rebound, 1.5 on a good day. 2.17? Unheard of. So, while the 12 offensive rebounds were not good, the fact they got 26 points off of those rebounds is amazing. Illinois isn’t going to win many games like that.

3. No point guard, no scorer, no chance – Khalid Lewis and Jaylon Tate continued to be a drain on the offense. They combined for six turnovers and two assists, which sounds great until you see they shot 1-6 in 40 minutes combined and teams continue to drop off of them and double the guys that can actually score. Illinois used Malcolm Hill to initiate the offense on numerous occasions, but that left Tate or Lewis spotted up. Iowa left them, or Alex Austin, and doubled Hill, Nunn and company, leading to difficult possessions. Illinois might be better served to play 5 scorers and see what happens if Hill is going to be the de facto point guard.

* Illinois didn’t hit a two-point field goal until a Maverick Morgan layup off of a broken play 11:30 into the game. They missed at least four layups, and you don’t miss those if you want to beta a top 5 team.

* Freshman DJ Williams gave Illinois a spark off the bench in 15 minutes and 8 points and 4 rebounds. He showed off his athleticism on both ends and at his size he has the potential to be a defensive stopper and rebounder in the mold of a Troy Williams at Indiana. He’s not a bad shooter and he handles the ball well for a forward. He needs to get stronger and become a better decision maker, but experience makes a big difference.

* Maverick Morgan had 10 points and 7 rebounds in 27 minutes. He and Finke are solid offensive players yet both struggle on the defensive end and with rebounding misses. There is no shot blocking presence right now for Illinois.

* Iowa got 32 points in the paint to just 18 for Illinois. After Rutgers beat them 54-36 inside it was a moral victory. Illinois gets very little inside and Iowa got mostly whatever they wanted on offense.

* The Illini scored 0.92 PPP to 1.08 for Iowa. The Hawkeyes pushed the tempo to 71 possessions and used their second chance points to make the difference.

* Te'Jon Lucas and his Washington teammates took in the action today. Lucas, as reported earlier, suffered two fractures in his ankle after a heard foul late in their game against Champaign Centennial Saturday night.

* Freshman Jalen Coleman-Lands scored 17 points and hit 5 three pointers. Right now there is so much more that he could be, but he is a spot up shooter; a very good one, but he is limited in other areas right now.

* Illinois is now being outrebounded by 10 rebounds per game in Big Ten play. The Illini have just 11 blocked shots in 11 league games.

* The attendance was announced at 13,849, but that is tickets sold. Even the friends and family section was desolate for this one.