Jan. 29, 2012

Box Score | Photo Gallery

Champaign, Ill. - The scene was set for the Illinois to build some positive momentum. The Illini were coming off a breakthrough overtime victory at Michigan State, the first win in East Lansing in nine years, and were hosting No. 19 Nebraska for Pack the Hall to start the second half of the Big Ten season with the opportunity to knock off a ranked team for the first time in four years. But Nebraska had other ideas, using a 40-22 advantage at halftime to post a convincing 67-47 victory.

After a slow start, Illinois won the rebounding battle 45-41 and held Nebraska to 33 percent shooting, but the Cornhuskers forced 23 Illinois turnovers and converted those to a 25-9 advantage in points off turnovers.

Illinois freshman Ivory Crawford posted her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds while adding three assists and three steals. Senior Lydia McCully added 10 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Kersten Magrum tallied 10. The trio, thus, accounted for 32 of the Illini 47 points.

Nebraska sophomore Jordan Hooper entered the contest as the second-leading scorer in the Big Ten at 20.1 points per game. While the Illini held Hooper to 12 points, eight below her average, and to 4-for-24 from the field, the Huskers perimeter threat, Lindsey Moore, scored a game-high 20 points while making 6-of-8 of her free throws. Emily Cady had 13 of her 17 points in the first half while connecting on all eight of her free throw attempts. Nebraska out-scored Illinois by nine points from the line, making 84 percent (21-25) of its free throws as a team.

Illinois never led in the game as Nebraska darted to a 25-15 lead. The Cornhuskers scored the final seven points of the half, the last five from Hooper, to take a commanding 40-22 lead at the break.

The Illini had nine offensive rebounds in the second half and cut their turnovers by 50 percent in making a couple of runs after intermission. Illinois used pressure defensive while attacking the basket to go on an 8-2 run to start the half, cutting the lead to 42-30 and forcing Nebraska to call timeout at the 16:42 mark. After the Huskers built the lead back to 50-35, the Illini used a 7-1 run to get the lead to single digits at 51-42, but made just 5 of their final 19 field goals as Nebraska put the game away.

With the top two teams in the conference, Purdue and Ohio State, both losing on the weekend, Nebraska (18-3, 7-2 B1G) moves to within one game of first place with a contest against Boilers looming Thursday in West Lafayette, Ind. Illinois (7-15, 1-8 B1G), meanwhile, tries to get back into the win column Thursday against Minnesota, a 75-64 winner over one-beaten Ohio State Sunday. Tip-off between the Illini and Gophers is at 7:30 p.m. at the Assembly Hall with the game airing live on the Big Ten Network.