It has been a rollercoaster week for Big Ten basketball, and Saturday was a rollercoaster game between Illinois and Iowa. The Hawkeyes beat the Illini 81-74 at State Farm Center in a game that saw Illinois erase a 21-point first-half deficit but fall short in the comeback attempt.

It felt as if Illinois left everything it had on the court, but it wasn’t enough to snap a losing streak that has now extended to seven games. The streak is Illinois’ longest losing streak since 1999.

Roy Devyn Marble led Iowa (17-5, 6-3 Big Ten) with 17 points, all coming in the second half. Gabriel Olaseni added 15 points and 12 rebounds, both career highs.

Joseph Bertrand’s 20 points were tops for the Illini (13-9, 2-7). But a late turnover trailing by one in the game’s final minutes and a rebound that was snatched from his grasp moments later probably handed the game to the Hawkeyes.

“That one stings just because of how hard our guys played,” Illinois head coach John Groce said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of our toughness and togetherness in a loss.”

“It was a very unique game to say the least,” Groce’s counterpart Fran McCaffery added. “I thought our defense was good early. It didn’t seem like (Illinois) could get anything to go in. They maintained their composure and showed a lot of fight to come back.”

State Farm Center was amped for the primetime matchup and the Illini fed off the electric sell-out crowd when they needed it most. Iowa jumped out to a quick lead and extended it to 34-13 with 7:34 to play in the first half.

Illinois responded, closing the half on a 23-6 run. The run wasn’t fueled by any one player, but it seemed as if the Illini simply flipped a switch.

“Our togetherness changed,” point guard Tracy Abrams said. “We were talking a little bit more. We understood that we had to keep fighting.”

That energy would carry over into the second half. If it wasn’t apparent before, an alley-oop dunk from Kendrick Nunn to Bertrand announced that Illinois wasn’t going to go away. The Illini kept it close early in the half, tying the score five different times before getting the lead from the Hawkeyes.

A 3-pointer from Abrams got Illinois over the hump with about 10 minutes to play. At 62-61, it was Illinois’ first lead since the 2-0 mark. Illinois would extend the lead to as many as five points, but eventually the more experienced Hawkeyes stifled the Illini offense.

Iowa held Illinois to one field goal in the game’s final four and a half minutes. The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Illini 41-28, but the teams were even on the glass in the second half.

This was a game that Illinois could have won and was in position to win, but as has been the theme during the losing streak, they couldn’t pull it out. This one felt different from the other losses, and Groce thought so too.

“We’ll probably watch the film and say, ‘What if?’” Groce said. “It was a good college basketball game if you didn’t care who won or lost. Unfortunately we care.”

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and @sean_hammond.