EVANSTON Ill. – Northwestern plays a slow-down game. The Wildcats are well known for their deliberate offense and zone defense; a style which was designed to allow the Wildcats to compete with the best teams in the Big Ten despite their lack of marquee players.

By slowing down the game, Northwestern is able to limit opponents’ possessions and keep games which would otherwise be out-of-reach close.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, their slowed tempo and lack of a killer instinct can also be their downfall. Such was the case on Saturday, as Illinois raced out to a 26-point lead early in the second half and despite Northwestern’s best efforts, was never really threatened again as they held on for a 58-47 win over the Wildcats at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

After the game, Illini head coach Bruce Weber said his team may be at a crossroads in its season.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of wins, and we’ve got a solid part of our schedule coming up,” he said. “We’ve got to decide, ‘Are we going forward? Are we going to be special? Or are we just going to be okay?'”

Currently, the seventh-ranked Illini are 17-2 overall, 3-2 in the Big Ten. Saturday was their first conference road win.

Illinois led by 15 points at halftime and opened the second half on a 12-1 run to extend its lead to 44-18 before the Wildcats finally began to rally. The lead – which came to the delight of half of the 8,117 fans in attendance – was Illinois’ biggest of the night.

Weber was happy with his team’s performance up until grabbing the big lead.

“We (had our lead) up in the twenties and the coaches and I were talking about subbing and we just let down,” he said. “Our defensive performance slipped, and then all of a sudden we let them get back in the game. We should have finished the game up in the twenties.”

Northwestern (9-8, 2-4) did cut Illinois’ lead to 10 twice late in the second half, but the Wildcats were never able to cut the lead into single digits.

Dee Brown led the Illini with 18 points and eight assists, and Rich McBride added 12 on four three-pointers. Warren Carter and Shaun Pruitt also set career-highs with 12 and 10 rebounds, respectively.