The race for the Big Ten basketball title is getting hot and heavy, and No. 9 Illinois made another move with an impressive 78-69 road win at No. 5 Nebraska. They're tied for the lead with Michigan. Here's the game story, and a look at the remaining showdowns of the big boys in the final five weeks.
LINCOLN, Neb. — The first-ever basketball game in Lincoln among two top-10 teams did not disappoint on Sunday. No. 5 Nebraska and No. 9 Illinois put on quite a show.
It was Illinois that came out of top, winning 78-69 at sold-out Pinnacle Bank Arena in a showdown of Big Ten power brokers. It's getting tight at the top of the league standings, with Illinois now tied for the lead with Michigan, and the Cornhuskers — who were still undefeated just a week ago — suddenly falling a game behind.
Surrounding dynamic scorer Keaton Wagler with four other players all 6-foot-9 or taller causes a lot of problems for opponents on both sides of the court. That was certainly the case on Sunday. Nebraska only made 10 shots inside the three-point arc all night, and the Illini also outrebounded the Cornhuskers 40-27.
That's 11 straight wins now for Illinois (19-3, 10-1 in the Big Ten), who remains perfect on the road in the Big Ten this season. Their only league loss was at home against Nebraska back in early December.
Their tall lineup, the largest in the country, was a big reason why.
“It gives us some options, some opportunities, to really space it, but it also gives us the opportunity to play above people and over the top,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “You throw a bunch of 6-9 to 7-2 guys out there, it gives us the chance to do that. (David Mirkovic) gives us that luxury because of his ball handling and his passing.
“We’ve been playing offense at a pretty good clip, and it’s been different things, but you only win on the road if you can guard at a certain level and rebound at a certain level. I think that’s the one thing we’ve been able to do — at least in the last couple.”
The Cornhuskers (20-2, 9-2 in the Big Ten) made 15 of 35 three-pointers, but couldn't do anything inside. They were just 10 of 24 on twos — and missed five layups at the rim.
“I thought their length in the paint bothered us,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. “It took away some of our cutting. I thought early we curled, we got in there and we made some plays. We sprayed it out and had some really good looks (from three-point range). The second half we couldn’t get those looks.”
Nebraska led by six at the half, but Illinois went on a 16-5 run to take the lead. Then they had a 10-0 spurt to go up 63-52 with 6:45 to go. Nebraska never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Dating back to last year the Cornhuskers had won 24 straight games before losing at No. 3 Michigan on Tuesday. Their No. 5 ranking was the highest in school history, and will likely change a good bit on Monday after the two losses.
For Illinois, it was their second Big Ten road win over a top-6 team in a week. They won at Purdue last weekend, too. The Illini are now tied for the Big Ten lead with Michigan, with five weeks to go.
Keaton Wagler led Illinois with 28 points. He had 46 in the Purdue win. Three other Illini starters were in double figures, Jake Davis with 13 points, Tomaslav Ivisic had 12 and Mirkovic added 10.
“The first loss at State Farm, we felt like we were a better team, but we just didn’t play very well,” Ivisic said. “Since the loss of that game, we really went on a run.
"I wouldn’t say we changed, but we adjusted our defense. Since then, we’ve just played with a lot of effort, a lot of tenacity. Now, beating them just proves we are the better team.”
There seems to be five great teams in the Big Ten right now — Illinois, Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue — and they've all played 11 league games so far, with nine to go.
There are other good teams, too, like Indiana, Wisconsin and UCLA, but the head-to-head among those five teams — all ranked in the top-12 nationally — will most likely determine a champion. We saw how huge these games have been in the past week, including No. 3 Michigan's road win over No. 7 Michigan State on Fricay night.
Here's what's left between the big boys.
Feb. 7 (Saturday): No. 9 Illinois Fighting Illini at No. 7 Michigan State Spartans, 8 p.m. ET. TV: FOX.
Feb. 10 (Tuesday): No. 12 Purdue Boilermakers at No. 5 Nebraska Cornhuskers, 7 p.m. ET. TV: FOX Sports 1.
Feb. 17 (Tuesday): No. 3 Michigan Wolverines at No. 12 Purdue Boilermakers, 6:30 p.m. ET. TV: Peacock.
Feb. 21 (Saturday): Nonconference game between No. 3 Michigan Wolverines at No. 4 Duke Blue Devils, 6:30 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN.
Feb. 26 (Thursday): No. 7 Michigan State Spartans at No. 12 Purdue Boilermakers, 8 p.m. ET. TV: Peacock.
Feb. 27 (Friday): No. 3 Michigan Wolverines at No. 9 Illinois Fighting, 8 p.m. ET. TV: FOX.
March 8 (Sunday): No. 7 Michigan State Spartans at No. 3 Michigan Wolverines, 4:30 p.m. ET. TV: CBS.