Illinois made program history Saturday night in Madison Square Garden. Just not the kind of program history a team wants to achieve.
A weakened, short-handed version of the Fighting Illini was mauled 110-67 by No. 3 Duke, breaking the school’s 51-year-old record for most lopsided defeat. The old mark was a 107-67 rout against Indiana in February 1974.
Illinois tries to bounce back from this debacle Tuesday night in Champaign when it returns to Big Ten play against Iowa.
After watching his team make just 2 of 26 3-pointers while allowing the Blue Devils to convert 40 of 72 attempts from the field, including 12 of 23 on 3-pointers, Illini coach Brad Underwood said they are lacking toughness.
“I’m not calling them soft, but I don’t think we’re handling the moment,” he said. “We’re young. We’re inexperienced. I think we’re a team (that) we miss a shot, we put our head down. Next play. You’ve got to get beyond that. I’ll get them there.”
Illinois (17-11, 9-8 Big Ten), which has had multiple bouts with illness since conference play started, is led by freshman Kasparas Jakucionis, who averages 15.6 points and 4.8 assists per game.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes (15-12, 6-10) come into town after an 85-79 home win Saturday against Washington that put them a game clear of Northwestern for the final spot in the conference tournament with two weeks left.
Payton Sandfort scored a game-high 27 points, hitting 12 of 13 foul shots, to pace Iowa. The Hawkeyes scored 52 second-half points and made 23 of 26 foul shots on the day.
“Payton certainly sets the example and everybody comes with him,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “We have to really compete and stay together, and keep grinding. That’s the type of team we have.”
Sandfort leads active players on the roster in scoring (16.7 points per game) and rebounding average (6.0) with Owen Freeman (16.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg) out for the rest of the season with a finger injury that required surgery.
The Illini own a 92-77 lead in the all-time series.
–Field Level Mediaa
