ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Te'Jon Lucas scored a career-high 14 points in Illinois' tough 72-68 overtime loss at Northwestern on Friday night in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
Vic Law added 16 points before fouling out in overtime and Bryant McIntosh had 14 points and six assists for Northwestern (5-3).
Leron Black led Illinois (6-2) with 15 points, while Mark Alstork had 14 points apiece.
Scott Lindsey, the Wildcats' second-leading scorer this season, did not start after going 0 for 8 from the floor in Northwestern's 52-51 loss to Georgia Tech on Tuesday night.
His two free throws with 59 seconds left broke a 68-68 tie. Dererk Pardon had two key blocked shots in the final minute.
It was the earliest Big Ten game in Illinois' century-long history in the league. The Big Ten season was moved up because the league will hold its conference tournament a week early in order to stage it at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Orange-clad Illini fans outnumbered Wildcats fans in Northwestern's temporary home 13 miles southwest of Welsh-Ryan Arena, which is undergoing major renovations and will not be used this season.
Team Notes
- Illinois and Northwestern played an overtime game for the fifth time in 175 meetings.
- Illinois is 134-41 all-time against Northwestern dating back to 1908.
- Illinois is 3-2 all-time against Northwestern in overtime games.
- Illinois is 11-2 all-time at Allstate Arena.
- There were eight lead changes and the game was tied 11 time.
- Illinois outrebounded Northwestern, 36-32. There were only 13 total offensive rebounds between the two teams (Northwestern - 7, Illinois - 6). Illinois led for 26:48.
- Illinois outscored Northwestern in the paint, 36-24.
- Today was Illinois' earliest Big Ten opener in school history (Dec. 1), surpassing the Dec. 15, 1964 opener at Wisconsin.
- Today was the lone scheduled match-up this season between Illinois and Northwestern. The Illini and Wildcats are guaranteed to meet twice annually beginning in 2018-19 when the Big Ten schedule expands to 20 games.
Individual Notes
- Sophomore guard Te'Jon Lucas had a career-high 14 points. His previous career high was 12 at Iowa 2/18/17. Lucas added five rebounds in two assists in a season-high 35 minutes.
- Junior guard Aaron Jordan scored in double figures for the fourth straight game, and sixth time this season. He had two games with 10+ points in his first two seasons (55 G). Jordan was 1-1 from three-point range and is 13-16 from three in the last four games. He entered the night as the national leader in three-point percentage.
- Graduate student guard Mark Alstork had 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting, his highest scoring game since scoring 17 in the season opener against Southern.
- RS Junior forward Leron Black scored 15 points, his sixth double-digit scoring game of the season. Black is averaging a team-best 14.3 points per game.
