Illinois downs Iowa in Big Ten play

Illinois dealt another blow to Iowa’s Big Ten title hopes while keeping theirs alive last night with a 77-66 win over the Hawkeyes. Iowa got within two points of Illinois in the second half, by the Illini then went on an 8-0 run and Iowa never got back into the ballgame. Hawkeye Coach Steve Alford says they didn’t play very good defense in the second half. Iowa had just ten turnovers, but Alford says they seem to come when his team needed to score to get back into the game.Alford says the team will get Wednesday off, and then come back to try and turn things around.Iowa is 2-3 in the Big Ten, but Alford says there is some time to turn things around if the team wants to. He says they’re only five games into the Big Ten season, but he doesn’t like the trend he’s seen thus far. He says the team is going to have to get focused and the seniors are going to have to step up their leadership.Luke Recker led Iowa with 16 points. Iowa is 13-6 overall and is at Northwestern Saturday.