Ivory Crawford didn’t have the greatest game of her career Sunday when Illinois lost its 10th game in a row, but she did reach a milestone only 26 other Illini have before her.

With a little under four minutes remaining in a blowout loss to Iowa, Crawford made a tough layup in traffic for her seventh point of the game, which put her at 1,001 points for her career.

“I just found out that I went over 1,000 points,” Crawford said after the game. “I’ve been working really hard, and I just keep going, and now I’m at a 1,000.”

Crawford finished the game on a high note. Crawford finished with 10 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds for her second consecutive double-double, her third of the season. Six of those rebounds came on the offensive end.

As a junior, Crawford is only the 15th player in school history to reach 1,000 points before her senior season.

Illini to face Hawkeyes in conference tournament

The Illini did not know who they would be facing in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament prior to Sunday’s game, but they quickly learned their opponent afterwards. After getting blown out by a combined 39 points in two games against Iowa this season, Illinois will get one last shot to redeem itself Thursday in Indianapolis.

“It’s a great chance to turn around and play a team that was much better than us (Sunday) and to see if we can make that change,” head coach Matt Bollant said. “We’ll see how much we can improve from now until Thursday and see what changes we make and how we adapt and see if we can be a lot better than we were today.”

The Illini are 1-2 on neutral courts this season. The Hawkeyes are 3-0 on neutral courts.

“They’re just as skilled as anybody out there,” Bollant said. “They really pass and shoot the ball extremely well, move the ball really well.

“It’s got to be about toughness and grit, and today it wasn’t about those things. If it’s all about skill, we’re probably not beating this team.”

Grant returns from mono

Freshman forward Jacqui Grant, who missed the team’s last six games prior to Sunday, returned to the starting lineup. In 20 minutes of play, she recorded seven points on 3-of-6 shooting, one rebound and one steal.

“Obviously she didn’t look physically as good,” Bollant said. “She showed some of the things she can do, but it was just hard for her physically, being out for three weeks. It was good to have her back on the court and hopefully today would help her prepare for Thursday. mono is a tough thing to come back from, and hopefully today will do a little bit to help us on Thursday.”

Blake can be reached at [email protected].