Coleman Hawkins scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and No. 14 Illinois pulled away for an 88-73 win over host Michigan on Thursday night in a Big Ten Conference matchup in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Quincy Guerrier scored 16 points and pulled down 14 rebounds for Illinois (13-4, 4-2), which bounced back from a loss to Maryland in its previous game. Ty Rodgers and Marcus Domask finished with 15 points apiece.
Tarris Reed Jr. scored 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting to lead Michigan (7-11, 2-5). Olivier Nkamhoua scored 16 points, and Dug McDaniel contributed 14.
Illinois finished with a 39-29 advantage on the boards. The Fighting Illini excelled on defense with nine steals, compared to one by Michigan.
The Wolverines trailed 48-47 with 14:10 remaining. McDaniel fired a pass to Nkamhoua, who made a layup to trim the deficit to one.
That was as close as Michigan got to the lead the rest of the way.
Rodgers made a layup to give the Fighting Illini a double-digit lead at 58-47 with 11:34 remaining.
Illinois went on a 17-2 run to seize a 65-49 lead with 8:19 remaining. Justin Harmon started the run with a three-point play on a layup and a free throw. Luke Goode followed with a 3-pointer on Illinois’ next time down the court.
Michigan’s Nimari Burnett made two free throws before Illinois finished its scoring binge with seven straight points. Hawkins made a layup, Guerrier had a free throw and a layup and Harmon sank two free throws to complete the run.
Illinois led 37-36 at halftime.
Hawkins led all scorers with 10 points in 17 minutes before the break. Nkamhoua was Michigan’s top scorer with nine points.
The Fighting Illini jumped to an 11-2 lead to start the game. Hawkins had a layup and a 3-pointer during the run, which Guerrier punctuated with a slam dunk.
Michigan fought back to cut the deficit to one point with 9:20 remaining in the first half. Will Tschetter made a layup to trim Illinois’ advantage to 20-19.
–Field Level Media
