CHICAGO — A pattern has developed over the course of the season in regards to Illinois’ offense, and it involves almost a complete stagnation where the ball doesn’t go in the hoop for extended minutes. This phenomenon has doomed Illinois at the beginning of second halves, particularly in road contests against Michigan and Michigan State.

In front of a Hoosier contingent at the United Center that dwarfed the Illinois following by a large margin, Illinois stumbled out of the gate and produced just seven points in the first 12 minutes of the game, a virtual burial against an Indiana team that scores the second-most points in the nation.

The Illinois men’s basketball team had its chances to cut into an Indiana lead in the second half but saw them slip away possession after possession en route to an 80-64 loss in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.

“When you’re playing Indiana, you got to be good on both offense and defense, in both halves,” Illinois head coach John Groce said.

Brandon Paul and Tracy Abrams represented the two scoring leaders for Illinois with 16 points, though the two combined for a 7-for-28 shooting performance. Production was minimal elsewhere on the roster, outside of a 4-for-4 shooting performance from Tyler Griffey and 10 efficient points from Joseph Bertrand.

Despite the offensive woes, Illinois trailed only 60-52 with seven minutes to go in the game and possession of the ball. A series of empty offensive possessions and defensive breakdowns represented the death knell of Illinois’ Big Ten Tournament championship aspirations.

“We were right there. In fact, that’s better shape than we were in, in the game at home,” Groce said in reference to Illinois buzzer-beating win against Indiana on Feb. 7. “But we just weren’t able to stop them enough down the stretch.”

The back-and-forth nature of the second half produced 88 points from both teams, a far cry from the 56 total points scored in the first half. But that tepid first stretch of the game was too much to overcome against the likely No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

“The takeaway is if you compete at a high level, you can compete with anybody in the country,” Paul said. “Once we put two halves together, we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

Indiana’s National Player of the Year candidates Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo put on All-American performances with Zeller tallying 24 points and nine rebounds and Oladipo putting up 12 points, 11 rebounds and a show-stopping 360-degree dunk to emphatically cap the game.

Illinois will return to Champaign to await its selection and seeding for the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers advance to play the winner of Michigan-Wisconsin game in the Big Ten semifinals Saturday.

“Right now, we’re just excited for Sunday,” Paul said. “We had a goal going into the season, so we’re excited for Sunday to see what happens.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and @ThomasBruch.