After a week off, the Illinois Fighting Illini (11-14, 3-9) were in Evanston on Saturday night to battle the Northwestern Wildcats (17-9, 5-8). The Wildcats were able to escape with a narrow 58-56 win in regulation. This was the only scheduled meeting of the year between these two rivals so, barring a meeting in the conference tournament, Northwestern holds bragging rights for the next year.
Kendrick Nunn led the way for Illinois with 13 points on 5-11 shooting. Northwestern's leading scorer was Tre Demps with 18 points.
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The first few minutes of play featured both teams missing several wide open jumpers, but Kendrick Nunn and Jalen Coleman-Lands eventually got Illinois on the board with back-to-back 3PT shots.