Indiana @ Illinois preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 7, 2019 ) Indiana 92, Illinois 74

Illinois can reach 20 wins for the first time since the 2016-17 season when it hosts Indiana on Sunday. The Fighting Illini have won three straight games, including a 74-66 victory over Northwestern on Thursday, to move into a four-way tie for second place in the Big Ten, and they aim to stay in contention for a double-bye in the conference tournament by beating the Hoosiers for the first time since Jan. 24, 2018.

“I’m proud of our guys to get to where we are now, but we have a lot more to go,” Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu told reporters. “It takes commitment, it takes belief and it takes a lot of hard work and determination.” Indiana’s NCAA Tournament hopes took a hit following a 57-49 loss to Purdue on Thursday. The Hoosiers were held below 50 points for the second time in a month en route to suffering the season sweep at the hands of the Boilermakers, and they hope to climb back to .500 in conference play while extending their winning streak to four games in the series with Illinois. “I have no problem with our effort and I have no problem with our attitude, but we need to be a little better offensively,” Indiana coach Archie Miller told reporters. “At the end of the day we’re continuing to fight through it.”

TIME: 2:00 p.m. ET. TV: Big Ten Network

ABOUT INDIANA (18-10, 8-9 Big Ten): Devonte Green scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds, but was the only Hoosier player to finish in double figures in the loss to Purdue. Trayce Jackson-Davis, who is the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week, was limited to six points on 2-of-7 shooting from the floor after averaging 20 points and 13 rebounds over his previous two games. “We didn’t get much offence out of anybody,” Miller said. “You can’t shoot 25 percent on the road and we needed a little bit more offense because we didn’t have enough firepower behind the line.”

ABOUT ILLINOIS (19-9, 11-6): Alan Griffin knocked down six 3-pointers en route to a career-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help the Fighting Illini beat Northwestern for the fourth consecutive time. Dosunmu added 21 points, six rebounds and four assists against the Wildcats to notch his third 20-point game in his last four outings. Kofi Cockburn produced 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to register his 12th double-double of the season to guarantee Illinois finished over .500 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2010.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Indiana has won seven of the last eight meetings with Illinois.

2. Dosunmu has scored in double figures in 12 straight games, which is the longest streak of his career.

3. Indiana is 5-14 on the road in Big Ten play since the start of the 2018-19 season.

PREDICTION: Illinois 78, Indiana 70