Illinois clinched its second consecutive Big Ten Championship with an 84-48 drubbing of Northwestern, yet not one person rushed the court and there was no trophy presentation.

“The night before the Indiana game, I wrote March 3 on the board,” Weber said, March 3 being the date set for Illinois’ last home game, the night Illinois will also celebrate Senior Night. “On that night I want to celebrate the seniors but I also want to celebrate an outright Big Ten Championship.”

Illinois took the second-to-last step before clinching an outright title tonight, proving to be way too much for the Wildcats to handle. Illinois improved its record to 28-0, the third longest win streak in Big Ten history.

From the opening tip, which James Augustine calmly won, the Illini asserted their dominance. Illinois had a 7-0 lead before Northwestern had put up its first shot. The game was put away early when junior guard Dee Brown, heralded for his big shots late in games, didn’t feel like waiting around that long. Brown scored 14 of Illinois’ first 28 points and had 17 by halftime; he finished with 20.

“I got open looks early, horse shots,” Brown said. “There was one play that was the best ball movement I had ever seen. When I got the ball I looked at a Northwestern player on the block and his face just said, ‘I’m not coming all the way out there.'”

After Brown’s hot start and virtual nails in the coffin, Northwestern coach Bill Carmody decided to pick his poison – Brown was the one to stop on this night. That’s just when Deron Williams and Luther Head enjoyed a little freedom. They finished the game with 13 and 14 points respectively, taking Illinois to halftime up 45-22.

“You tend to think that shooting like that would have to diminish over the course of the year but it’s only improved,” Carmody said about the Illini guards.

Illinois finished with 14 three-pointers, shooting 60.9 percent from behind the arc, compared with its opponent, who finished with a dismal 5.9 percent.

The flurry didn’t stop at Assembly Hall; the crowd was doing the wave as highlight reel dunks and passes ballooned the lead up to 41 points.

Roger Powell Jr. finished the night with a double-double, 18 points and 10 rebounds, without relaxing on the defensive end.

The Illini found an answer to Vedran Vukusic, a big man with an inside-outside game. Powell Jr. held the Wildcat’s Croatian to 14 points and only one rebound.

Illinois out-rebounded Northwestern 36-21, a point of emphasis for the Illini after a game that Powell Jr. refers to as a poor rebounding performance.

“I sit down then and just clap,” Weber said about his team’s play on a night like tonight. Next for the Illini is the game with the red marker around it, a home game against Purdue, and the last crack at the prot‚g‚ for the Gene Keady farewell tour.

“We get to rest up and come back strong,” Head said.