Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois
Illinois Tops Northwestern, 70-37
1/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2008
A slow start proved to be too much for the Northwestern men's basketball team to overcome Sunday night at Illinois as it dropped a 70-37 decision. Michael Thompson led the Wildcats with 13 points. Trent Meacham scored a game-high 18 points for the Fighting Illini.
Illinois improves to 10-11 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten while Northwestern falls to 6-11 and 0-7.
After the Wildcats scored first basket of the game on a 3-pointer by Thompson, the Fighting Illini responded with a 22-2 run to take a 17-point lead. Turnover plagued the Wildcats in the opening half of play as they committed an uncharacteristic10 miscues, just one shy of their season average for a game.
Northwestern was finally able to get its offense going, as Sterling Williams capped an 11-4 spurt to get the Wildcats within 26-16 with 3:43 remaining in the opening half.
Illinois would eventually take a 31-18 lead into the half as it shot 58.3 percent (14-24) over the first 20 minutes of play compared to 35 percent (7-20) for NU and held a 17-7 rebounding edge.
The second half started similar to the first as it took the Wildcats seven minutes and 32 seconds to connect on their first field goal. Illinois opened the second stanza on a 17-3 run to extend its lead to 27.
Northwestern tied a season low by shooting 31 percent (13-42) for the game, compared to 54.2 percent (26-48) for Illinois.
The Wildcats return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday when it plays its final non-conference game of the regular season, taking on Texas-Pan American at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
