Spokesman-Review
National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Iowa 68, Illinois 60
When: 9:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa
Officials: # Pat Driscoll, # Donnie Eppler, # Earl Walton
Attendance: 14831

Iowa 68, Illinois 60: Aaron White scored 20 of his career-high 29 points in the second half as the host Hawkeyes downed the Fighting Illini.

Jarrod Uthoff added six points and a game-high 10 rebounds for Iowa (18-10, 9-6 Big Ten), which notched its third straight win. The Hawkeyes, who also received eight points from Gabriel Olaseni and six apiece from Peter Jok, Josh Oglesby and Anthony Clemmons, hit 6-of-14 3-pointers and finished with a 20-15 edge at the free-throw line.

Rayvonte Rice had 20 points and nine rebounds to pace Illinois (17-11, 7-8), which suffered its third straight setback since opening the month with a four-game win streak. Ahmad Starks, who started for point guard Jaylon Tate (illness), added a season high-matching 19 points – including five 3-pointers – for the Illini, which shot 33.3 percent from the field but hit 15-of-16 free throws.

Iowa, which took a 33-32 lead into the second half, fell behind 36-35 before White scored the Hawkeyes’ next 14 points as part of a 23-12 run over the ensuing 11 minutes, allowing them to take their first double-digit lead at 58-48 with 6:24 remaining. Illinois was able to get within 63-58 on two Nnanna Egwu free throws with 1:17 left, but the Hawkeyes went 5-of-6 at the line from there to close out the win.

Iowa grabbed an early 22-15 lead, but Starks drained a pair of treys to fuel a 15-4 Illinois run, giving the visitors a 30-26 edge with 3:25 to play in the opening half. Then it was the Hawkeyes’ turn to heat up as they closed the half with a 7-2 mini-run to take the one-point advantage into the break.

GAME NOTEBOOK: White now has 1,726 career points, surpassing B.J. Armstrong (1,705) to move into fourth place on Iowa’s all-time list. … Tate had started the last 12 games and was averaging 3.9 points and 3.2 assists in 20.7 minutes, but did not play. … The Hawkeyes improved to 17-1 when scoring 64 or more points.

Top Game Performances
 
Illinois   Iowa
Rayvonte Rice 20 Scoring Aaron White 29
Kendrick Nunn 3 Assists Anthony Clemmons 4
Rayvonte Rice 9 Rebounds Jarrod Uthoff 10
Rayvonte Rice 9 Free Throws Made Aaron White 10
Nnanna Egwu 3 Steals Mike Gesell 2
Nnanna Egwu 1 Blocks Jarrod Uthoff 4
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Illinois 60 33.3 7-21 15-16 8 33 1 9 13
Iowa 68 43.8 6-14 20-30 14 34 6 7 12