Northwestern will play Illinois in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. CT from the United Center in Chicago.
The teams split the two regular season matchups, with each team winning at home. The combined margin of victory for both games was seven points, but these are teams going in different directions right now. After starting conference play 1-7, Illinois climbed to the No. 11 seed in the conference tournament after going 6-6 in its final 12 games. Northwestern, meanwhile, started Big Ten play 3-5 before losing 11 of its last 12 games.