Illini rally, notch milestone
Hawkins scores a career-high 30, leading No. 12 Illinois; Loyola wins 7th straight
Coleman Hawkins scored a career-high 30 points, and No. 12 Illinois rallied from a seven-point deficit in the second half to beat Iowa 95-85 on Saturday in Champaign for the 1,000th Big Ten win in program history.
Terrance Shannon Jr. and Justin Harmon each scored 12 points and Dain Dainja had eight rebounds for the Illini (20-7, 11-5).
Nico Moretti, who failed to score in Illinois’ last three games, had eight points in the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers, helping to spark the rally. Moretti last scored on Jan. 18 against Michigan.
“You can tell Nico is a coach’s kid,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “He has never asked me what he needs to do to play more. He just shows up and works hard every day. I guarantee you he didn’t know he was going to play 17 minutes today, but he was ready.
“He’s the ultimate team guy, and that was an incredible team win for us. It wasn’t easy.”
It was a bounce-back game for Hawkins, who scored nine points, missed two free-throw attempts and fouled Penn State’s Zach Hicks on a 3-point shot in the final 13 seconds of Illinois’ 90-89 loss Wednesday. Hicks’ three free throws with three seconds left won the game.
“What did I do to flush the Penn State game? I got off social media, deleted some apps and limited who I talked to,” Hawkins said. “Basically I just had to be a man and own up to my mistakes.”
Josh Dix scored 20 points, Tony Perkins 18 and Payton Sandfort 12, and Owen Freeman chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds for Iowa (16-12, 8-9), which led 64-57 with 12 minutes, 15 seconds left in the second half but failed to hold on.
“Hawkins shoots NBA-level 3s and can take the ball to the hoop. He’s a tough guy to guard,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “And their bench guys are good players. Give them credit. They played well.”
Hawkins scored 13 points in the first nine minutes of the first half as Illinois led 44-43 at the break.
With the win, Illinois remained in second place in the conference, two games behind No. 3 Purdue (13-3), with four Big Ten games remaining.
The Illini have won 20 or more games in five straight seasons under Underwood. He’s only the second Illinois coach to accomplish the feat. Lou Henson won 20 or more games nine seasons in a row from 1983-91.
Loyola 80, George Mason 59:
Brad en Norris and Philip Alston both scored 10 points to lead the Ramblers to their seventh consecutive victory Saturday at Gentile Arena.
Norris added eight assists and four steals for Loyola (20-7, 12-2), which remained in a first-place tie with Richmond in the Atlantic 10 with four games remaining. Ramblers reserves outscored Richmond’s bench 39-20.
Amari Kelly scored 19 points and Darius Maddox 17 for the Patriots (18-9, 7-7).