The Illinois men’s basketball team dominated in a vintage performance against Northwestern on Saturday night.

In front of former players Roger Powell and Jack Ingram, the Illini (18-11, 8-8 Big Ten) demolished the Wildcats (14-15, 5-11) 86-60, in a game that was reminiscent of the 2004-05 Illinois team that was honored at halftime.

“We were really hitting on all cylinders,” senior guard Ahmad Starks said. “The ball was moving. We were getting great looks.”

Illinois ended Northwestern’s four-game winning streak due in large part to the Illini’s successful shooting from long range. They finished the game at 47.4 percent from the field and 48.3 percent from three.

The Illini outrebounded Northwestern 40 to 21, only allowing the Wildcats to grab three offensive rebounds. The Illini also shared the ball better than the Wildcats — Illinois finished the game with 15 assists, four more than Northwestern.

Rayvonte Rice led Illinois with a game-high 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists, but the team’s scoring was balanced throughout as four other Illini notched double digit points.

“We were just out there playing for each other,” senior guard Rayvonte Rice said. “We weren’t caring who was scoring.”

Alex Olah and Bryant McIntosh were the only players able to get going offensively for Northwestern. Olah led the team with 18 points and five rebounds while McIntosh added 13 points on the night.

Illinois came out firing from the get-go, hitting four-straight threes to start the game on a 12-2 run. 

Northwestern bounced back with a 7-0 run of its own to bring the score to 12-9, but Illinois closed the half on a 32-14 run to blow open the game. The Illini took a 45-23 lead into the half and didn’t look back.

Tensions were high throughout, no matter the size of the Illini lead. Illinois and Northwestern combined for 33 fouls, including three technical fouls, and players from both teams got into heated arguments on multiple occasions.

It was a high intensity game,” head coach John Groce said of the reasons behind the elevated tensions of Illinois and Northwestern. “It was a physical game.” 

Coming out of halftime, Illinois was able to maintain its intensity, fighting off an early 6-1 Northwestern run to keep the lead near 20 points for the majority of the second half.

As the half went on, the Illini’s constant ball movement and the ineffectiveness of the Wildcats’ zone helped the lead swell to 27 points. 

“It was about as good as we played,” Groce said. 

Northwestern’s head coach Chris Collins commended the Illini’s effort and intensity in the convincing win. 

“Illinois was really good tonight,” Collins said. “They were just firing on all cylinders tonight.” 

Illinois will need to keep up the intensity if it hopes to nab an NCAA tournament bid. Starks said the Illini know the importance of the final two regular season games. 

“We know that we want to win out,” Starks said. “Every game is pretty much must-win. We’re going to come out with that mentality that we want to finish these games out strong and see where it takes us.”

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