Box Score
March 4, 2014
Highlights
Photos | Box Score | Postgame Press Conference | Senior Day Ceremony
| 1st | 2nd | F |
| Michigan |
52 |
32 |
84 |
| Illinois |
30 |
23 |
53 |
|
Illini Top Performers
|
| Rayonte Rice |
16 pts, 9 rebs, 3 assists |
| Kendrick Nunn |
14 pts, 1 reb, 1 assist |
| Nnanna Egwu |
6 pts, 6 rebs |
|
Game Stats
|
|
Illinois |
Michigan |
| FG Percentage |
39% |
57% |
| 3-point Percentage |
11% |
70% |
| FT Percentage |
69% |
71% |
| Def. Rebounds |
18 |
29 |
| Off. Rebounds |
5 |
4 |
| Assists |
7 |
15 |
| Steals |
4 |
5 |
| Turnovers |
8 |
10 |
| Blocks |
0 |
1 |
|
Next Game
|
Illinois at Iowa
Saturday, March 8  7:30 pm CT BTN
|
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - Over the past couple of weeks Illinois had used tough defense and 3-point shooting to win three straight and revive its postseason hopes.
The Illini had gone four straight games without letting an opponent score 50 points. And they'd hit at least eight 3-pointers in each win.
On Tuesday night, No. 12 Michigan turned the tables on the Illini.
The Wolverines (22-7, 14-3 Big Ten) buried Illinois with 16 3-pointers on the way to an 84-53 blowout and the Big Ten championship.
Michigan shot 70 percent from 3-point range and hit 29 of its 51 shots from the field, 56.9 percent.
Illinois (17-13, 6-11) , coach John Groce said, ran into a "perfect storm," one he compared to LeBron James' 61-point game on Monday night.
"He said he felt like he was throwing a golf ball in an ocean," Groce said. "That's what it was like tonight."
Nik Stauskas scored 24 points, hitting a career-best seven 3 pointers. He said Michigan didn't want to share the championship with anybody, something it did in 2012.
"We came with that mindset, this was our championship and we wanted to win it," he said.
Dialed in or not, Michigan coach John Beilein said he didn't see that kind of shooting performance coming against the Illini.
"I haven't seen that in practice even," Beilein said.
The Wolverines hit five straight 3-pointers midway through the half to break the game open. The 15-point run turned widened Michigan's 20-17 lead to a comfortable 32-17.
Caris LeVert added 15 points for Michigan and Glenn Robinson III had 13.
Almost lost in the shooting was a quietly dominant performance on the boards by the Wolverines, outrebounding Illinois 33-23. Jon Horford led Michigan with 10 boards.
Rayvonte Rice led Illinois with 16 and Kendrick Nunn added 14.
Offensively, the Illini weren't bad over the first 20 minutes, shooting 54.2 percent.
But the Wolverines were unstoppable. They were 11-for-14 from 3-point range (78.6 percent) in the first half.
And Michigan had a dozen assists in those decisive 20 minutes and, against a team that had been living off steals, had turned the ball over just three times. The Illini had scored 20.7 points a game off steals during their three-game win streak.
It was the 3-pointers, though, that broke the game open.
Midway through the half, the Wolverines were good from 3-point range on five straight possessions. That turned a tight 17-13 game with 13:21 to play into a 32-17 blowout-in-the-making with just over eight minutes in the half.
"It's just one of those things, it's kind of contagious," Stauskas said.
Illinois senior Joseph Bertrand left the game with a knee injury, but Groce didn't have details about it after the game.
In a season in which the Illini once lost eight straight, three wins revived talk around Champaign about the post season, maybe even an outside shot at an NCAA Tournament bid if they could keep winning.
Tuesday's loss may have stunted that talk, but Groce said his team could still find itself in a good place.
"The game today doesn't erase the fact that in the past two to three weeks we've played the best we played this year," he said.
